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The Spirit World 



FLORENCE MARRYAT 



Author of "There Is No Death," "The Dead Man-s MESSAaE,' 
"The Risen Dead," "The Bankrupt Heart," etc., etc. 




New York 

CHARLES B. REED, Publisher 

164, 166 «Sc 168 Fulton St. 



1894 






Copyright, 1894, by 
AUGUSTA W. FLETCHER, M. 

All Rights Reserved, 



The Spirit World 



CONTKKTS 



I. Mt Coekespondence, . . , e 7 

II. The Cuke for Death, . . » . 25 

III. Spiritualism and the Bible, . , .41 

IV. What Authors and Poets Think of Spirituausm:, 65 
V. Miss Marryat's Bogus Bogey, . . 85 

YI. How TO Investigate Spiritualism, , . 108 

VII. What Spirits have Said to Me, . . 138 

VIII. Spiritual Correspondence, . . , 160 

IX. My Seances with Cecil Husk, , . 175 

X. Some Private Experiences, . . <, 203 

XI. A Chance Seance with a Stranger, . . 231 

XII. A Seance with Mr. Eita, .... 248 

XIII. On Mediums and Spiritualist Societies, . 257 



CHAPTER I. 



MY CORRESPOXDEN"CE. 



From my earliest and most unthinking days I have 
always felt that the one, great, unfulfilled want of this 
world is the undeniable proof that, when we leave it, we 
shall live again, or, rather, that we shall never cease to live. 
There must be a big screw loose somewhere in the various 
religions presented to us, which profess to give us every- 
thing but this — vague hopes — threatening fears — promises 
of reward and dread of punishment — but not an atom of 
proof that, having passed out of this body, we shall exist 
either to enjoy the one, or endure the other. And never 
have I been so thoroughly convinced of the truth of my 
assertion, as since I published, now three years ago, the 
record of my experience in Spiritualism. Since that book 
appeared, letters have poured in upon me from strangers, 
in every habitable part of the globe, at the rate of seven 
and eight a day, and the cry of one and all has been the 
same : " Show us our dead ! Give us some sign that they 
still live and that we shall live with them.^' 

Mothers, like Eachel, weeping for their children and re- 
fusing to be comforted, because they were not; young men, 
who had studied all the known orthodox writers in order 
to find out the truth, and found themselves only further 
from God for their pains; old men and old women who, at 
the close of life, had nothing tangible to cling to; men of 
law and science and literature — all these and many others, 
have written to me, or come to see me, in consequence of 
having read " There is no Death,^' and very proud have I 



8 THE SPIRIT AVORLI). 

been of creating so much curiosity and interest in a subject, 
which is a religion to me. But if it has made me glad, it 
has also made me sad. Here were a crowd of professedly 
Christian men and women, who had been under the teach- 
ing and guidance of their respective churches since their 
infancy, coming to a stranger (almost as ignorant as them- 
selves), to teach them how to find out if it is true, that 
when they pass out of their bodies, they shall wake to meet 
those they have loved in this world. Have not their 
spiritual pastors and masters, therefore, inculcated this 
great fact in their minds ? Perhaps so — undoubtedly so — 
but they had no proof to give them that their doctrine was 
true. They could only rest their belief on the traditions 
that had been handed down to them through the history 
of the world. A priest will talk to his congregation about 
heaven and hell — about God's judgments and God's re- 
wards — about an eternity of misery or blessedness — but 
pin him to the point to tell you how he knows what he 
preaches to be true, and he can only hark back to the testi- 
mony of the Bible, which, however it was originated, we 
all know to be half lost and wholly mistranslated. And 
though history may be sufficient for us, when we are asked 
to believe that William the Conquei^r landed in England 
in the year 10G6 (because, if the truth were told, we do 
not care one jot nor tittle if he ever landed here at all) — 
it is not enough to rest all our liopes of a future life upon, 
for ourselves and those we love. The torn and bereaved 
heart wants proof — actual, irrefragable proof, that those 
who have gone before us, live and breathe somewhere; 
that tlicy are not entirely beyond the limits of our siglit and 
love and remembrance; that tlie deepest feelings of our 
liearts liave not been wasted, but are bearing fruit still, and 
even our sorrow for tlieir loss affords a tender pleasure to 
the spirits who sympathize Avitli us. 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 9 

If it were possible for me to publish all the letters I 
have received, if you could have read the cries of pain 
and doubt and bereavement which they contained, the 
anxiety to learn from my own lips that what I had written 
was the unvarnished, solemn truth, you would understand, 
far better than I can tell you here, what the one, great 
want of this world is — what religion has never given it and 
never will give it, whilst the Church arrogates to itself 
all the miracles that are taking place around us and in 
our midst every hour. Many of the letters I allude to I 
have answered — many more I have been regretfully com- 
pelled, from want of time, to leave unanswered, for the 
questions propounded to me would, in many instances, 
have required another volume to be properly discussed in, 
and these it is my intention to touch upon now, and, as far 
as in me lies, to satisfactorily reply to. But, though most 
of my letters, with their deep black borders, have made me 
weep, as I perused the human cries within them, that 
might, in many instances, have been penned with the 
writer's heart blood, others of my correspondents have 
vastly amused me, by their absurd demands and queries, 
and the utter ignorance they displayed of the uses or the 
meaning of Spiritualism. How plainly they demonstrated 
how little the beautiful theory of an after-life enters the 
Christian religion. Their letters and the sentiments they 
contained were a disgrace to the teachers and the church 
that could inspire them with no better founded hope, nor 
wider knowledge than they displayed. Christians all say 
they believe in a future existence, but hardly one in a 
thousand realizes the truth of it, and little wonder, con- 
sidering they have never received a single good proof that 
it will be theirs. What patient would believe a doctor, or 
a dentist, on his unsupported word, that he could cure him 
of his pain ? He requires the testimony of those who have 



10 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

been cured before lie trusts himself to his tender mercies. 
In this Avorld it is useless for the menders of aches and 
pains, to assure their patients: "It is so !^^ The patients 
require some accredited proof of their skill before they will 
trust themselves under their hands. And the churches 
have cried long enough: "It is so!^^ The people are 
beginning to answer : " Give us your proofs and we will 
believe you! We Avant something beyond mere con- 
jecture. The subject is of too much importance to us. If 
you cannot tell us, we will find it out for ourselves.^' 

And in proof of this, a certain Canon, in addressing his 
clergy the other day, told them plainly that if they refused 
to recognize the power and truth of Spiritualism, it would 
prove, before long, to be the greatest opponent the Church 
had ever had. 

A well-known professional man wrote to me a few weeks 
ago: "I would like to believe in a Hereafter. I want to 
believe in it — it would make me a happier and more godly 
man to believe in it; but, though I hope it may be true, I 
have never received any proof that it is so, and the priests 
who have tried to inculcate it in me, have known no more 
than myself." Therein lies the evil and the truth! They 
know no more than ourselves. They can only quote the 
I^ible and we can read it as well as they. Observe the in- 
accuracy of the Church's teaching on this subject. The 
Protestant Church, for a long time, denied that there could 
be such a thing as the return of those whom we call dead, 
and when it was forced, by the experiments and testimony 
of men of learning and science, to acknowledge it to be a 
fact, it ascribed tlio forces by which it operated as diaboli- 
f^il. Perhaps the Protestant Church may remember that 
there was a time when all the powers of nature, such as 
thunder and lightning, and earthquakes, were attributed 
to the devil — anything, in short, which people understood 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 11 

as little as they do the science of Spiritualism. The 
Catholic Church, on the other hand, allows that it is both 
23ossible and true, but diabolical — unless confined to the 
authority of herself. Bernadotte, the little shepherd, who 
saw and spoke to an apparition of the Mother of Christ at 
Lourdes (which miracle led to the foundation of the cele- 
brated healing grotto of Loretto), was exalted to a saint on 
account of her mediumistic powers. It was miraculous 
and angelical in her, but it would be diabolical and blas- 
phemous in you or me. Bernadotte was only a rough, 
ignorant peasant child, no more holy than any urchin from 
our own board school, but she was an excellent physical 
medium, and I should have very much liked to have 
annexed and developed her. Did the Church permit her 
to remain in the world and exercise her undoubted powers 
for the enlightenment and regeneration of her fellow 
creatures? Nothing of the sort! It clapped her at once 
into a convent to keep them for itself. It declared that 
her vision was miraculous — that it came straight from 
God ; but that when / see the apparition of my daughter 
Florence, who went into the spirit-world as an innocent 
baby of ten days old, I see a devil sent by the agency of 
the evil one, to damn my soul to hell! Do you believe 
such irrelevance ? I don^t. The priests know better than 
that, but they have no desire to raise the veil. If 

they admitted the jftaphingg nf Sp^ritunlism a.Tirl t,fl.nght. 

the people to seek counsel and advice of those who are 
nearer to God th an any mortals can be^ what furth er '^^'^^ 
of their own services? W ere they to go hand in hand with 
their congregations in this, seeking with them and learn- 
ing with them, they would find themselves far better fitted 
to teach the ignorant and the mourner where to find 
comfort and relief. The priests of the Catholic Church 
know all about it ; but, from the first, they have 



12 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

determined to keep it within the circle of their own 
authority. The Roman Catholic Church is a mass of 
Spiritualism — she teems with so-called miracles; the men 
and women who have witnessed them have been trans- 
formed into saints for their wonderful powers; but the 
knowledge must not be disseminated amongst the masses. 
The reason is obvious. The people would learn too much. 
They would no longer believe that a man's word could 
either condemn their souls to hell, or give them the 
entrance to heaven; they would begin to use the con- 
science which God has implanted in each one of our 
breasts for the purpose of warning us what to follow and 
what to avoid — they would, in one word, \>q free, I know 
that this is a most terrible sentiment to issue from the 
mouth of a Catholic; but if to be a Catholic is to be blind 
and deaf and dumb, I give up all claim to the title. 
After what God has given me to see and hear, I must 
speak, or I should, indeed, feel myself to be guilty. To 
return to my correspondents — my readers seem to imagine, 
in the first place, that as soon as a spirit is freed from its 
earthly body, it becomes a species of little god, endowed 
with supernatural powers of prophecy and foresight — able 
to advise on all mundane matters — to seek out and com- 
municate with strange spirits of whom it has never heard 
l^efore — to fly hitlier and thither, conveying messages and 
finding out secrets — that it is, in fact, at once divested of 
all its earthly attributes, and able to perform miracles — 
able, also, and willing to interest itself in the most trivial 
tilings, such as finding lost articles, reading the contents 
of wills, foretelling the winning racehorses, and divining 
the inmost thoughts of their friends and themselves. One 
;rontleman in the West Indies requested me to "send the 
-j»irit of his dead wife*' (of whom I had never heard before), 
at a certain hour, on a certain day, to him in Jamaica, 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 13 

with due regard to the difference of time between the two 
countries, in order that she might advise him with regard 
to the bringing-up of their child. 

What would he have thought if I had replied that if he 
would tell his dead mother to visit m.e first, I would try 
to get into communication with his wife ? When will 
enquirers understand that mediums cannot command 
spirits, nor control them, nor raise them up, nor order 
them about in any way. They come to teach us — not to 
be treated like servants to run messages, or gratify idle 
curiosity. They are the higher powers — we, the lower. 
They, the preachers — we, the congregation. 

Another man from America wrote me, that if my con- 
trols would tell him what was his real name (he signed 
himself by an assumed one), profession, age, complexion, 
and characteristics, he would become a Spiritualist. Such 
an enormous inducement for me to take any trouble in the 
matter ! It is a person's own loss and that of no one else, 
if he misses being convinced of the truth of Spiritualism 
in this life. He will only be the less prepared for entering 
on another. We shall all be Spiritualists as soon as we are 
spirits. 

A lady correspondent informed me that, for some time 
past, she had continually dreamed of a man unknown to 
her, until she had become convinced that he must exist on 
this earth somewhere, and if Spiritualism was of any use, 
my spirit friends should be able to trace him for her and 
bring them together for the purpose of marriage. Another 
lady wrote me she had three beautiful daughters — she 
described them all separately — but these lovely creatures 
had not yet been snapped up, and she desired me to send a 
spirit to look at them and tell her if they would marry, 
and, if so, whom and when. 

Numerous requests like the following have reached me : 



14 THE SPIRIT AVORLD. 

" I have lost a ring of value. AVill you ask ' Florence ' 
to tell me where it is ? '' 

"My father died last year. AYill you ask one of your con- 
trols wliere he is at present, and if he has any message to 
send me ? " 

" I was engaged to be married some time ago, but the 
engagement was broken off. Now I wish it renewed. 
Can you tell me if there is any chance of it, or if your 
spirits can influence my lover towards me ? " Now, people 
who can make such requests as these, display the grossest 
ignorance of what Spiritualism is, or for what purpose it 
is permitted. As I have said before, spirits are not errand 
boys to be sent about at our bidding, to execute the orders 
of strangers, nor are they omnipresent, omniscient, or 
omnipotent, to be able to read all hearts, and influence all 
minds. To think of them in that light is to arrogate the 
attributes of the Almighty God for the humblest of his 
creatures. Neither is their mission to accelerate the oppor- 
tunities of lovers, nor bring about matrimonial desirabili- 
ties. They come to demonstrate the fact that we shall 
live again — not to furtlier the petty interests or to aggran- 
dize the covetous and grasping natures of this world. And 
even if they did so, it would not be for utter strangers. 
Each lielps its own. Tliey are our guardian angels — their 
reward being the permission to watch over those they love, 
a reward sometimes deferred, in God's Avisdom, for some 
time after they pass away from our sides. The gentlemen 
and ladies wlio wrote me such letters would doubtless be 
very much surprised if asked to do such things for their 
fellow creatures — why should they imagine that, once 
passed out of the body, they would feel more inclined to 
take HU(;h trou1)le for i)ers()ns wlio had no claim on them ? 
If you put the question to them personally, they murmur : 
*' Oh ! yes, of course, but then I thought that spirits," etc. 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 15 

Which proves what I state, that the generality of people 
cannot grasp the fact that they — they, themselves, will exist 
in a spirit world; that spirit life is not another life, but a 
continuation of this; that they will not be altered in any 
particular for many years, perhaps, from what they may be 
when they pass over there; that the earthly man will be 
earthly still and the spiritual man will be spiritual still, 
and both will progress, in like measure, with the progress 
they have made whilst here at school below. We know 
that the lad who works to obtain knowledge, passes his 
examination and takes a higher place in college than the 
one who has been idle, or disobedient. So it is with us. 
The more spirituality we acquire below, the better fitted 
shall we be to enjoy a spiritual life above. You remember 
the two texts : "As the tree falleth, so shall it lie,^^ and 
"He that is unjust, let him be unjust still, and he which 
is filthy, let him be filthy still, and he that is righteous, let 
him be righteous still, and he that is holy, let him be holy 
still.'*^ 

They apply to the subject in hand, and I have been 
taught that every man remains as he passes away until he 
aspires to become better. But that may incur a bitter 
penance first. 

But to set against the correspondence of such ignora- 
muses as I have quoted, who have not, perhaps, sufficient 
spirituality in themselves, to be able to realize the grand 
work the spirits of those gone before are allotted to do on 
earth, I have received communications that have made me 
doubly thankful that I had the courage of my opinions, in 
giving the record of my experiences to the world. For I 
must tell you that I did it in the face of much opposi- 
tion and displeasure. Some of my nearest relatives warned 
me that if I published " There is no Death,'' I should be 
dubbed a madwoman, or a liar, and that my novels would 



16 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

suffer in consequence. I was told that I should offend the 
mediums I had sat with and the company in which I had 
sat. I thought it all very probable, but still I argued that, 
having seen what I had seen, and heard what I had heard, 
I had no right to keep the truth from the world. 

Those who believe my statements, will be glad to hear, I 
think, that my literary name has not suffered in any way 
from my audacity — on the contrary, the book has been 
received with more enthusiasm than anything I have ever 
written before — and that I have the happiness of knr 
that it has conveyed comfort and belief to many a so. 
ing heart. Mothers have spoken again with their chil 
husbands with their wives, friends have met fri ids, 
through my agency, and I thank God for it. More 'lan 
this, men and women who never believed in anything bdore 
they read my book^ have written me that for the first 
time, they felt they could reconcile God's mercy with His 
justice. Some of the Catholic papers have published 
abusive articles against me; but as they were written by 
one of my nearest relations, it is not to be wondered at, 
for a man's foes are ever those of his own household, and 
es])ecially when the man has been successful. But what 
time had I to think, even, about newspaper articles, when I 
liad the supreme pleasure to receive a letter like the follow- 
ing? A young soldier wrote it me from the Cape. I have 
no autliority to mention his name; but I know, in con- 
sideration of all the pleasure he has given me, he will 
pardon my giving a few extracts from his letter here: 

'^ I ask your acceptance of the deepest and purest grati- 
tude for the good work you are doing in the cause of 
Spiritualism, and for the help, personally, your work has 
l)een to me. Not only do I tender this on my own behalf, 
l)ut on that of many others, united with me in the bond of 
a common faitli, but who, like myself, the exigencies of 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 17 

fate^ or circumstances, have scattered, far and wide, to re- 
mote corners of the globe, where ideas keep pace with the 
actions of those about us, and creep on all fours; where 
the sunbeams of advanced thought have not, as yet, pene- 
trated the gloomy, cobwebby recesses of old-time notions, 
old-time ignorance and bigotry; where the refining, soft- 
ening influences of civilization are wanting. I have just 
closed the pages of your latest and greatest work (for such 
it may be called) " There is no Death,^' and laid the book 
r ently aside, with a feeling of wonderment, and a sigh 
atitude. It has exerted a strange influence over me. 
influence has elevated me above myself — drawn to 
the iTont some of that better self (a casual visitor only, 
anc then in dreams far apart), a little of whom still re- 
mains, despite the malodorous atmosphere of a soldier's 
life — made me, in fact, a better man. Yet this is merely 
an individual experience, and nothing in comparison to 
the full and glorious effect your book is creating on the 
thinking world. The more one learns of Spiritualism, 
particularly of the phases you describe, the more one be- 
comes horrified at the natures of the majority of those 
around us, especially so in the life I am now leading. 
Miserable, blighted ruins — stunted, deformed, suffocated 
soul natures — moribund in decaying walls of the bodily 
prison, natures to whom to compare the brutes of the 
field were a calumny upon nobler animals. You are 
nobly spreading that knowledge, the light of which alone 
can revive the smouldering soul embers of such creatures. 
* * * * ^ In baring your heart 

to the world, and penning your wonderful experiences, in 
the interest of pure truth and advancement — scorning the 
adverse criticisms of an incredulous public, none, save such 
as we, can thoroughly appreciate the great help which your 
influence will give to the cause, and the permanent good 



18 THE SPIRIT AVORLD. 

which will arise therefrom. Humanity owes you a debt 
of gratitude which can never be fully repaid in this life, but 
which assuredly will be placed to your credit in the life be- 
yond. Will you accept the hearty thanks of a soul in the 
wilderness, for the good you have done him ? K'ever before 
have I so fully realized the divine, beautiful nature of 
faith, and its power for good, as since reading ^ There is 
no Death.''' * * * * * * 

From settlers in the Bush; from soldiers under the tropi- 
cal sun of India; from clergymen in the wilds of Canada; 
from American cousins over the Atlantic; from brothers 
and sisters of all grades, I have received the same gratifying 
assurances that the public acknowledgment of my belief 
in Spiritualism has given comfort and hope to many, and 
courage to enquire into the truth of the doctrine; but all 
have asked me to give them more information on the sub- 
ject which is of such vital importance to us all. In " There 
is no Death" I purposely confined my reminiscences to 
my actual personal exjyerience. I felt that, in vouching for 
the truth of so important a matter to the public, I had no 
right to repeat anything but what I could swear, if need 
be, that I had seen and heard with my own eyes and ears. 
But the case is now altered. I think the majority, at least, 
of my readers are convinced that Avhat I have already 
written is the truth, and they have, of themselves, demanded 
more explicit details how they may pursue the paths I 
have and obtain the same i^eace. And I feel I have no 
right to withhold anything that I may be able to tell 
them. 

My correspondence lias been, on the whole, so gratifying 
and complimentary, that I feel I have nothing but thanks 
to give the writers — yet, one or two have annoyed me, un- 
wittingly, I am sure, by asking if all I related in "There 
is no Deatli '' was true, or whether it were not a cleverly 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 19 

concocted romance. (This was actually the term used by 
more than one of my correspondents.) Now, I thought I 
stated as plainly as I could, in my opening chapter, that I 
was relating the actual experience of my life; but who, that 
credits me with being a woman, could suspect me of tri- 
fling with so solemn a subject as the bruised and bleeding 
hearts of my fellow-creatures? Surely, no one who has 
himself experienced the awful, unspeakable agony of losing 
a beloTed friend by death. If reiteration be necessary, let 
me reiterate, here^ the every incident related in " There is 
no Death^^ occurred to me just as I wrote it down^ and 
that they were not written from memory, but from notes 
takeji at the time. 

Others of my acquaintance have asked me if I was sure, 
considering the long time that, in some instances, has 
elapsed since the marvels I wrote of took place, if my senses 
had not deceived me, or if I remembered distinctly what 
happened. To these I can only return the same answer, 
i. e., that notes were made of all the events at the time, 
and better still, perhaps, that similar experiences are oc- 
curring to me. every day. 

Others again have written to ask me if I were not 
hypnotized at the seances I describe, and only imagined I 
saw what I relate. What ! thirty or forty people hypno- 
tized at the same moment, some to see a friend — others a 
stranger, in one and the same form. One, to be moved to 
tears at the recognition of his father or mother, and the 
other to sit by indifferently, because he had no part in the 
joy of his next neighbor. It is only the would-be wise, but 
wholly ignorant, who would attempt to account for the 
phenomena on such grounds. No man of science would 
do so, and I venture to say that no man, scientific, or other- 
wise, who has once commenced seriously to study the sub- 
ject of Spiritualism, ever tries to explain it all. If they are 



20 THE SPIKIT AVORLD. 

not satisfied of its genuineness, they remain neuter. They 
cannot argue it away, nor will they ever be able to do so. 
That clever paper, ^' Truth," got to the very bottom of the 
well the other day In publishing an article on my asser- 
tions regarding the reappearance of my step-son Francis 
Lean, entitled " Miss Marryat's Bogus Bogey." 

I did not notice it at the time for several reasons, one 
being that I very much dislike a newspajoer war. I 
intend to go into it, however, in the course of this book, 
and iDrove to you that "Truth," however credible in 
itself, accepted in this instance the testimony of a witness 
who is not credible. 

" Francis " and " Florence " and " Dewdrop " and 
" Goodness " are not visions of the past, only, but intimate 
friends in the present, with many more added to them, who 
assemble round me year by year, as I see and learn more of 
the divine science which makes the pleasure and comfort 
of my life. Numerous persons have come forward since my 
book was publislied, professing to have mastered all the 
wonders of Spiritualism, and various works have come out, 
on the subject. But let me repeat here what I said before, 
that it is not a matter to be taken up as a pastime, nor is 
it to be learned and proved in a day. They are plenty of 
hysterical people ready to declare that they have seen 
spirits, or had tlieir hands guided by the dead, and who are 
generally prepared to teach their grandmothers to suck eggs, 
or, in other words, to sit in the high places as prophets, 
before they have mastered the A B of the faith they pro- 
fess to hold. Spiritualism is not to be learned, nor its 
advantages gained, witliout perseverance aiid patience, and 
study, and outlay. People come to me, sometimes, all eager- 
ness to find out if Si)iritualism be true — anxious, so they 
tell me, to be convinced of the after-life of those they have 
loved hero — longing to l)elievo iu eternity, and a future ex- 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. Si 

istence, and begging me to tell them where they can go in 
order to prove it for themselves. I give them the name 
and address, perhaps, of a medium whom I know to be 
above suspicion, and tell them the expense they will be put 
to. They cry : " ! but that is such a prohibitive price." 

They will pay their half guinea cheerfully any night to 
see " Charley^s Aunt/" (and I think " Charley^s Aunt " is 
quite worth it) — but it is too much for a proof of ever- 
lasting life ! People of this sort are not Spiritualists, 
they are sight-seers; they want to go to seances from simple 
curiosity, and they would far better keep away. 

I have not much faith myself in the good of all 
the proposals one hears for the founding of Colleges 
for Spiritualism. They may attract attention to the 
doctrine, but I doubt if they will further it, as it should 
be furthered. They will lapse into so many churches for 
another religion, and wherever money and subscriptions 
are made the principal outlook, religion falls to the ground. 
The chief reason that the Christian religion has fallen into 
such disrepute of late years that the clergy cannot fill 
their churches, is because it has to be so heavily paid for. 
All religion should be free. Let our Spiritualism be in 
ourselves and our own families. There is the only altar 
on which it will bring forth fruit. Did the Christ return 
to earth in this generation, he would pull down the 
churches and turn their worshipers into the streets, as he 
turned the money-changers out of the Temple. What do 
the majority in the Nineteenth Century do, but turn his 
Father's House into a den of thieves ? If we all held an 
indubitable belief in, and conviction of, the truth of another 
life, we should need no churches, but those in our own 
bodies, which the knowledge of our Father's love would 
transform into temples for the Holy Ghost. To be un- 
doubtedly certain that we shall live again — to know from 



32 THE SPIRIT AVORLD. 

the 07ily real ])r oof ^^Q can have, namely, tlie return of the 
dead, that we shall pass from this life to another, far more 
beautiful, would be to live as in the presence of God and 
those we love. An universal belief in Spiritualism would 
do w^hat all the churches in the world, and all the religions 
they have carved out for us, have failed to do — it would 
transform a blaspheming, adulterous, murdering, back- 
biting, lying and thieving crew, into a band of thankful 
and adoring children, cognizant of their Maker's love and 
patient of the accidents which may be against them in 
this world, because, assured of passing on to another — 
acknowledging what very few of them do now, that His 
dispensations in removing their dearest ones out of their 
sight for awhile, are all for the best, since they know for 
certain not only that they will be reunited to them before 
long, but that even whilst in this world they may be 
solaced by their presence and the knowledge that they still 
love and wait for them. 

AVhy should we grieve so terribly "as those without 
hope," when we lose our friends by death, and yet bear, 
with comjDarative composure, their departure for another 
country, where they will be lost to our sight and hearing, 
and perhaps be exposed to all sorts of dangers from sick- 
ness and traveling? Must there not be something at fault 
in a religion which leaves us a prey to our own surmisings 
and fears — which has no power to make us trustful and 
confident for our own future and the future of our friends? 
Would not the belief that they can revisit us, and see what 
we are doing, make the survivors somewhat more careful 
how they behaved, knowing that those they mourn, could 
be grieved still by their misdoing ? * * * 

*' Knowing we are encompassed by a mighty cloud of 
witnesses." 

And still the cry of tlie cliildren of earth is: " Sliow us 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 23 

our dead/^ The atheist says: "Prove to me there is a 
God^ and I will believe in Him/^ 

The careless liver: "Prove that this world does not end 
all, and I will see some good in abandoning my evil ways, 
and living a j)urer life." The mourner: "Let me believe 
that I shall meet my child, or my father, or my mother 
again, and I will be patient and resigned, instead of 
reckless." 

Well, then, dear friends — dear fellow -sufferers — (for I 
have suffered as much as you have) — let me try in my 
poor way to prove it to you. Let me show you, to the best 
of my ability and with the assistance of my spirit friends, 
how to set to work to do what I have done — how, that is, 
to open communication with those who have gone before 
you, so that they may be able to convince you that they 
live, and that you have only to wait a little longer before 
you will live with them again — that to that other world, 
which will seem so natural to you when jou enter it, you 
will carry your own heaven, or your own hell, just as you 
will have made it for yourselves, whilst here below — that 
there there is no torture designed for you by an All-Merciful 
Father, from the beginning of the world, but only that 
which you make for yourselves by the non-exercise, or re- 
pression of the natural love He has implanted in your 
breasts, for the benefit of your fellow-creatures. Come 
with me and let us argue out the matter together, and find 
how we may best prove my theory to be the truth. Eemem- 
ber that it is of as great moment to me, as to you. I am 
just as anxious as you may be, to learn the "truth, the 
whole truth, and nothing but the truth." If I have been 
deceived for five-and-twenty years (which I conceive to be 
impossible), I am just as ready, on being convinced of my 
self-deception, to give it all up now, as I was when my in- 
vestigations were only two Aveeks old. The great thing for 



24 THE SPIEIT WORLD. 

both you and me, and every one is — not to think of this, 
or believe that— but to find out the truth for ourselves. 
Evidently the churches have not taught it us. If Spirit- 
ualism is a truth, why have we been kept in ignorance of 
it ? 'Why has the fact been denied to us over and over 
again ? 

By whose authority was it, that the ministers of the 
Established Church declared it, but a few years back, to be 
a ridiculous fable, and now almost all of them confess it to 
be a truth, and many preach it from^ the pulpit ? Are we 
infants that the secrets of nature are to be kept back from 
us ? Let us have more courage. Let us resolve to know 
everything and judge for ourselves. If we find Spiritualism 
does us harm — prevents our doing our duty in this world, 
or saps our health and strength — by all means abandon its 
pursuit, for it is not for us. But if it gives us comfort and 
pleasure; more faith in the goodness of God, and courage 
to do the work He has apjoointed us on earth, then cling 
to it as the greatest solace He has allotted man. And now 
let me take you by the hand, as it were, and show you why 
/believe it to be an unmitigated blessinef. 



25 



CHAPTER II. 

THE CURE FOR DEATH. 

I should like to speak to you first of death. — that change 
which to most of you is a nightmare of terror, but which, 
in reality, should be the gladdest event of all your life. 

This unnatural dread of a change as natural as being 
born, is one of the best proofs we have, of the little good 
that has been effected by the religions of the world — of 
how little real influence they have exerted on the compre- 
hensions and souls of men — for if they had had the power 
to make their proselytes realize the truth of their teach- 
ings, the expected glories of heaven would have done away 
with the fear of death, and the terrors of hell with the 
vices of humanity. But neither one effect, nor the other, 
has been the result of eighteen hundred years of preaching 
and praying. Why should we fear death in our own per- 
sons so much, that in the majority of instances, we cannot 
summon up courage even to sit down and look the 
" bogey '' of our childhood straight in the face ? We know 
that it is inevitable — that it must happen to all of us. 
Our lives are as varied as ourselves. Some of us are born 
to prosperity, others to misfortune ; some to health, others 
to disease ; some to attain the highest honors, or to occupy 
the j)roudest positions in this world, others to live and die 
in obscurity. But, sooner or later, we must all come to 
the same end — that end, which equalizes the king with the 
pauper ; which turns the body of the young, rich and 
noble Duke of Clarence, lying in his crimson velvet-cov- 
ered coffin in the mausoleum in St. Ceorge^s chapel, at 



26 THE SPIRIT AVORLD. 

Windsor, into precisely the same dust, no finer nor less 
objectionable, than that of the last half-starved and 
diseased cripple who was bundled out of a workhouse cart, 
into the overladen public grave, that already held a dozen 
such as he. 

Death is not like the typhoid fever, nor the smallpox, 
which we may hope, by care or precaution, to escai)e or 
overcome. It is inevitable — we must all pass through it. 
Yet the majority put the thought away from them, as 
something not to be alluded to ; they shudder when they 
hear it mentioned. That with which they must all be- 
come acquainted, is thrust out of sight, as if it were their 
greatest enemy ; that which their religion teaches them is 
but the entrance to an eternity of happiness is avoided as 
if it were, indeed, the beginning of the typical hell, which 
has been thrust doAvn their throats, with no better effect 
than to make them dread the idea of passing into the 
presence of their Heavenly Father. Now, is the fault here, 
in the religion, or in the teaching? If they believe the 
religion, why do they fear death? If they do ^o^ believe 
the religion, is it because, in their inmost hearts, they feel 
it is not true — that heaven and hell, as they have been 
represented to us, are ^'bogies," set up, the better to keep 
us under the thumbs of our spiritual pastors and masters, 
and to prevent our enquiring and learning for ourselves? 
If you read the history of the churches, you will find that, 
from tlie beginning, the people have ever been exhorted to 
place tlieir judgments and consciences into the hands of 
the ministers, and tliat it is not only the Roman Catholic 
Cliurch who has arrogated to herself the virtue of infalli- 
bility. Each, in its own way, has done tlie same, from the 
Culvinistic Churcli, with its horrible doctrine of elec- 
tion by grace, to the lowest psalm-singing conventicle, 
whose tearlier slirieks liell fire and everlasting burning 



THE SPIEIT WOKLD. 27 

into the ears of its ignorant congregation. But, thank 
God, there is a better and more reasonable view of the 
matter than these, and if Spiritualism served no higher 
purpose than to dismiss this causeless fear of death, and 
what comes after it, from the minds of men, it would ac- 
complish what nothing else iefore it has ever done. 

A great deal of this unnatural dread of death has been 
inculcated in our minds from our childhood, but it has all 
arisen from the same cause — the futility of religion to con- 
vince us of the reality of the beautiful life to which we 
are hastening. From our tenderest years, we cannot re- 
member hearing the subject mentioned, except with low- 
ered voice and bated breath. One of my earliest recollec- 
tions is of being dragged by an ignorant nursemaid to see 
all the funerals that took place in an adjoining church- 
yard — of watching the mourners in their sable garments, 
of seeing the black plumes and weepers — of hearing the 
clay clods rattle down upon the coffin and wondering what 
the ghastly face, hid underneath it, looked like — to say 
nothing of having the occasion improved for me, the very 
next time I could not go to sleep as quickly as my nurse 
desiredj by being told that if I didn't shut my eyes directly, 
she would tell the dead men to come and carry me away to 
the churchyard. 

I had a very pious mother — pious according to the fables 
she had been taught to receive as truth^but not a word 
did she ever say to me in those childish days to mitigate 
the sense of fear inspired in my breast, by that with which 
it pleases Christians, with the hope of '' a joyful resurrec- 
tion,'' to surround their funeral ceremonies — not a word of 
the happy state of the enfranchised soul, who was viewing 
those ceremonies, perhaps, with " the proud contempt of 
spirits risen." I saw nothing but the yawning grave and 
the weeping countenances, and heard nothing but the sobs 



28 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

of the mourners ; or, if the subject were mentioned after- 
wards, it was with those terrible old accompaniments of the 
bottomless pit, or an alternative, almost as bad, of singing 
jDsalms for ever and ever, before a great white throne. 

A little brother of mine, called Willy, died at seven 
years old, long before I was born. My mother, who really 
was a good woman after her lights, often told me how dis- 
tressed she was, because, as the poor child was dying of in- 
flammation of the bowels, which creates an unquenchable 
thirst, and she was disturbing his last moments by a 
description of the heaven, which she su^Dposed he was about 
to enter^ he raised himself upon his elbow and exclaimed: 
" I don't want to go there ! I want some beer ! '' 

Poor mother ! She actually believed that our dear, 
tender Father, God, would punish an infant of seven years 
for speaking such blasj)hemy, and that if little Willy ever 
entered her mythical and most undesirable heaven, it 
would only be riter being purified as by fire. But she 
knows better now. She passed over more than ten years' 
agony, and the first words she said to me, on coming back, 
were : " Oh ! it is all so different from what I imagined, so 
very, very different." 

Charles Dickens, who displays his own tender nature in 
every line he has written, has shown what he thinks of this 
tampering with children's fears, by the words he j^uts into 
the mouth of Nurse Polly, in " Dombey and Son." When 
tlie i)oor, little, neglected Florence asks her : " What have 
tliey done with my mamma ? ' ' she answers : 

" Once, upon a time, there was a lady — a very good lady 
— and her little daughter loved her." 

" A very good lady and her little daughter loved her," 
repeated the cliild. 

"Who, when ()<»(! tlioiiirht it riglit it should be so, was 
taken ill and died/" 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 29 

The child shuddered. 

"Died, never to be seen again oy any one on earth/ and 
was buried in the ground where the trees grow/' 

" The cold ground/^ said the child, shuddering again. 

" No ! the warm ground/'' returned Polly, seizing her 
advantage, " where the ugly little seeds turn into beautiful 
flowers, and into grass and corn, and I don^t know what 
all, besides. Where good people turn into bright angels 
and fly away to heaven." 

The child who had drooped her head raised it again, 
and sat looking at her intently. 

" So, when this lady died, wherever they took her, or 
wherever they put her, she went to God ! and she prayed to 
Him, this lady did,^^ said Polly, affecting herself beyond 
measure, being heartily in earnest, ''to teach her little 
daughter to be sure of that in her heart, and to know that 
she was happy there, and loved her still, and to hope and 
try — ! all her life — to meet her there one day, never, 
never, never to part any more ! '' 

" It was my mamma ! " exclaimed the child, springing up 
and clasping her round the neck. 

I have always thought this one of the most touching 
passages its great author ever wrote. 

Now, one of the principal objects of Spiritualism is, to 
make this death, which you dread so much, less horrible to 
you ; to prove that it is as natural as living on this earth, 
being but a continuation of nature ; that there is no death, 
in fact (in the sense we have been taught to regard it), 
but only a second birth to a second sphere of action. It 
will show you that you fear too much, because you know 
too little, and that Spiritualism is a light that will make 
life easier for you to bear, and death more welcome. 

I do not wish for one moment to depreciate the awful 
agony attendant on losing our friends by death. That is 



30 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

qnite another matter, from dreading it on our own account. 
It is the greatest trouble which this life holds, but even that 
is much alleviated by the knowledge that there is only a 
thin veil between us and those whom we have lost from 
sight. I suppose there is not a creature who will read 
these pages, who has not gone through it — not one, who 
has not stood beside the dying bed of a father, or a mother; 
a brother, or a sister ; a husband, or a wife ; or, worst, 
and crudest grief of all — a child ! 

For it is only in the course of nature, that our parents 
should pass away before ourselves, and it is an equal 
chance whether brother, or sister, husband, or wife, 
should be the first to go. But the children we have 
brought into the world — the infants we have nourished at 
our breasts — the youths and maidens we have watched 
blossom to maturity — 0, Mothers ! I appeal to you if 
there is a greater agony under heaven, than to see our 
children die ? To watch the hands which we have never 
failed to assist, stretched out to us for help in vain ; to see 
the dear eyes glazing beneath the dread decree ; to try and 
catch the last faint whispered words ; to hear the sobbing 
breath drawn with more difficulty at each labored inspira- 
tion, and tlien, before you have realized that he is close at 
hand, to know that the destroyer has come — that all is 
over ; that tlie warm, living child you have held to your 
lieart night after night — bone of your bone, and flesh of 
your flesh — is gone forever, has become a lump of clay, 
witliout sense, or sjjeecli, or motion, and that in a few days, 
however tiglitly your fond arms may be clasped about it, 
tliey will take even that from you, and thrust it into the 
dark, damp earth, and leave it there, to become putrid and 
noisome and revolting. 

! that awful burial, when the heavy clods of earth 
rattle down upon the lid of the coffin, that holds your dead 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 31 

darling, as if tliey would burst it in, and you call out, as if 
your feeble remonstrance could arrest the ceremonial, and 
your heart grows sick within you, as you feel there is 
nothing to be done, but to submit. 

God, Avho ordained death as the means by which His 
children should pass to a purer and more progressive ex- 
istence, alone knows the agony they have undergone 
whilst viewing it in the persons of those they love. 

And then the sense of desolation that follows. 

Do you remember what it was to return home ? To 
mark the empty chair, the vacated bed, the familiar 
possessions left behind, and to feel that the dear arms 
would never twine around your neck again ; that the 
voice you loved to listen to, was silenced forever ; that the 
eyes you gazed in with delight, were closed and dull ; that 
your child had left you ; that he was lying in his narrow 
coffin under the cruel sods, out in the cold and the frost 
and the rain, and you would see him never more, until you 
had passed through the dread mystery yourself. 

Did you not lie awake at night, sobbing instead of sleep- 
ing ; peering with your inflamed eyes into the impenetra- 
ble darkness ; yearning for the " touch of a vanished hand, 
and the sound of a voice that is still '' — feeling that you 
would give anything, and dare anything, only to hear one 
word, to see one glimpse, that would convince you that 
your beloved had not gone utterly beyond the reach of your 
affection and your tears ? 

Poor mourner ! To whom did you go for consolation 
in your terrible affliction ? To your minister ? What did 
he tell you ? 

Doubtless, he was very kind, and pitied the grief he had 
no power to assuage. He talked to you of a shadowy, 
indistinct, undefinable heaven, situated, Tie kneiv not where, 
governed by what laws, he would not tell, subject to 



32 THE SPIRIT AVORLD. 

what conditions, he did not hnoio ! A jumbled, misty 
idea of a city, paved with gold, and situated above the 
clouds; a place where innocent infants, if unsprinkled 
with water by the hand of man, may not enter ; but where 
hoary-headed, old sinners, and murderers, who cry with 
their last frightened breath, '' I believe ! '* are gladly wel- 
comed ; a place where, God^s mercy being illimitable, 
you may trust and hope your child has found admit- 
tance. 

Did that comfort you ? Did that take away one thought 
of the dark grave, and the narrow coffin, and the fair 
features and rounded limbs turning livid with decay ? 

And if your lost darling had not been a child — if, on 
the contrary, he were a thoughtless young man, who had 
never done much good, or much evil, in his short life, what 
did the minister say then ? Where did his theories con- 
sign the unawakened ? Did he not shake his head, and 
keej) his mouth shut, and leave you more hopeless and 
despairing than before ? 

It was not his fault — he did his very best to comfort 
you — but he knew no better. How should he, whilst he 
belongs to a community that lays down hard and fast rules 
for its members, and permits no man to think, or speak, 
except with the mind, or the mouth, of whoever may be 
set in authority over him? Of all the people in this world, 
the parsons, priests and ministers, are the ones who want 
instruction most in Spirituality. They are truly the blind 
leading the blind, and tumbling into the ditch of ignor- 
ance with their followers. 

And had your friends any more satisfactory consolation 
to give you ? Did they not help you to hurry everything 
that should remind you of tlie trial you had gone through, 
out of sight, and advise you to try change of scene and air, 
and say it was useless to sit down and nurse your grief — 



THE SPIRIT AVORLD. 33 

that weeping would not bring back the dead, and that 
your duty was to the living? 

And you fell down on your knees, i^erhaps, half mad- 
dened by their sophistries, and stretched out your empty 
arms to heaven and called on God to tell you why He had 
ever created your child, or yourself, only to leave you a 
prey to such unutterable misery. 

What would you have said if, at that supreme moment, 
you could have heard the voice you believed silenced for- 
ever, say " Mother ! " — if you could have turned your head 
to see the dear, familiar form standing beside you, not 
dazzling in its brightness, and set apart from you by an 
angelic radiance, but clothed as it was on earth — looking 
and speaking as it used to look and speak, only with all 
the sadness and sickness swept away, with no taint of 
death, or corruption on it, but beaming with life in every 
limb and feature ? 

Would not such a sight, however short a time it might 
have lasted, have done more to dry your tears, than all the 
priests^ theories, or your friends' advice ? Would not that 
single word " Mother '' have comforted you more and con- 
vinced you of God's goodness more than a thousand ser- 
mons could have the power to do, and sent you to your 
knees again in gratitude that you had been vouchsafed 
the only proof that can he infallible of life beyond the 
grave. 

This is what I have been privileged to see — what thou- 
sands beside myself have seen — the blessing I long to con- 
vince every soul to be an indisputable fact, that the dead 
are not gone beyond the reach of those who love them. Let 
us look at the matter from a reasonable point of view : 
We are told in the scriptures, that God ordained death as 
a punishment for sin. For myself, I do not believe this 
statement. 1 do not believe that God ever intended us to 



34 THE SPIRIT AVORLD. 

die, or sin, or be sick or sorry. We have brought these 
evils upon ourselves, just as we bring our hell, or heaven, 
on ourselves by the use, or misuse, of the life, which God 
intended to be eternal on this earth. The fact remains, 
however, that we die, and that the doom was pronounced 
on us, at the same time that the ground was cursed for 
man^s sake, and the woman was promised sorrow in her 
conception. Yet what blessings lay beneath these curses. 
Blessings which were not for the future only, but followed 
immediately in their wake. Man was condemned to earn 
his bread by the sweat of his brow, but how sweet is the 
bread thus earned! The rich man, whose money has been 
bequeathed him by his forefathers, does not derive half 
the 2:)leasure from S2:)ending it, that they did in earning it. 
AVhat profit we derive from labor! The want of work is 
turned into the curse to-day! 

And the mother, who brings forth her child in pain and 
anguish ! Will any one deny her consolation ? It is the 
childless woman with whom we are called on to sympa- 
thize. The mother grows prouder and prouder with each 
fresh curse the Lord may lay upon her. And do you 
imagine that God would have left death — the bitterest and 
sorest punishment that we have brought upon ourselves — 
without its remedy, even in this world ? 

Tlie Churches' indistinct and shadowy heaven, with its 
white-robed inhabitants, most re^orehensibly wasting eter- 
nity by twanging their harps, has never really afforded it to 
us. AVe have strained our poor eyes to tlie unfathomable 
ether where it is said to be situated, and tried to realize it, 
and hoped it might be true, but when all was said and 
done, it was only conjecture, and the preachers of our faith 
cannot deny that it is so. They tell us all they can, but 
what does it amount to ? They read their bibles, and we 
read ours, and one knows as muoli as the other! And the 



THE SPIEIT ^VORLD. 35 

world still cries for proof: '^ Show iis our dead! Give iis a 
certainty of a life to come! '' 

Spiritism, then, is the cure for the worst thing we 
have brought upon ourselves. G-od knows that we have 
sinned — that with sin came death; but He will not leave 
us comfortless. All things in His nature combine to pro- 
duce a beautiful harmon}-, so that the remedy is never far 
from the disease, and He has ordained that the dockleaf 
Spiritism shall grow beside the stinging-nettle death — 
the leaf which we can pluck, even in this life, and lay best 
against our bleeding hearts — the balm which will heal the 
aching wound, and teach us patience and resignation under 
our temporal loss, with a certainty of reunion in the world 
beyond. 

The dead are not dead! They stand in our midst to-day! 
I, who write these words to you, have seen them, conversed 
with them, handled them ; and I would not j)art with the 
knowledge thus gained, for all the good the world could 
give me. 

I allow it is not the common experience that it should 
be. For centuries it has been banned by the churches and 
thrust out of sight as an unclean thing. Fear is the rod 
with which they have ruled the people^ and with the igno- 
rant, it has, in a great measure, succeeded. But Spiritism 
is nothing new. It has been since the world began. Of 
late years it has been coming to the front, and it will 
come more and more, to the front, as men throw off the 
yoke and ignorance of the past, and have the courage of 
their own opinions. The law forbids their taking money 
for the exposition of their mediumship, and, under 
present circumstances, it is a good and wholesome law, 
because the curiosity to enquire into the truth of Spirit- 
ism is so great, that it puts a premium upon chicanery. 
But no amount of chicanery can alter the fact that the 



36 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

spirits of those gone before us, are amongst us, as we move 
through the world. Were every medium ever heard of, to 
turn out to be a fraud — were every church in the kingdom 
to topple to the ground — Spiritism would still remain a 
truth, because it existed long before any mediums or 
churches were thought of, and its practice was sanctioned 
by God himself, and practiced by his people. 

The knowledge that when our friends pass from our 
sight, they are not carried aAvay to an unattainable sphere, 
whence no communication can take ]3lace between us, but 
are permitted, under certain circumstances, to revisit 
this earth, and comfort us by the sense of their presence, 
has been revealed to some of the humblest of the human 
race, and believed in by many of the highest. You can 
have no idea, until you have enquired into the matter, 
what thousands of people hold this comforting doctrine in 
England, America and the whole world, though few are 
courageous enough to acknowledge their belief openly. 
The notion that the dead cannot return — that all stories of 
ghosts and apparitions are invented to scare the suj^ersti- 
tious — has been so imbued in their minds, that they dread 
the ridicule that may be cast on their belief to the con- 
trary. But amongst those who have boldly and openly 
avowed what they believed to be true, proved to be true, 
there are names on the roll beside which the cleverest and 
most far-seeing of mortals need not be ashamed to inscribe 
their own. 

I need only enumerate such men as S. C. Hall, William 
Crookes, Professor Tyndall, Sir Edwin Arnold, Professor 
Huxley, the poet Longfellow, Alfred Wallace, Gerald Mas- 
sey. Lord Brougham, Lord Lyndhurst, Lord Lytton, Arch- 
})isliop Whateley, Jolin Wesley, and a hundred others, to 
prove that if Spiritists err, they err in excellent company. 

J^iit since many of my readers may hold a sincere faith 



THE SPIKIT WOKLD. 37 

in the authenticity of the Scriptures, I will try to convince 
them, first of all, that Spiritism is not only lawful, but 
that it is founded on the practice of the Bible ; that it was 
permitted and encouraged of God ; and that it is man^s 
increasing wickedness and worldliness, alone, that caused 
the spirits to refrain, because of their inability to hold 
converse with humanity. 

For centuries. Spiritualism has been banned by the 
Church, and thrust out of sight as an unclean thing. 
The Church which encourages the State in upholding 
laws which are totally opposed to the teaching of its pro- 
fessed Master Christ ; which solemnizes marriages which 
are nothing less than prostitution ; which permits divorce, 
capital punishment, actions at law ; winks at simony, 
and allots enormous revenues to its bishops and arch- 
bishops, whilst the poor rot and starve — this same Church 
forbids us to have any communication with spirits, who 
are the very first to denounce its corrupt practices. But 
Spiritualism is nothing new. It began when the world 
began. The knowledge that, when our friends pass from 
our sight, they are not immediately carried away to 
an unattainable country, whence no communication can 
evermore take place between us, but are permitted, under 
certain circumstances, to revisit this earth, and comfort 
us by the sense of their presence, has been revealed to 
some of the humblest of the human race, and is believed 
in by many of the highest. You can have no idea, until 
you have enquired into the matter, how many thousands 
of people hold this comforting doctrine — in England, 
America, Australia, and the whole world — their gross 
number being estimated at eleven millions. But, were I 
to convince you that Spiritualism is true, and comforting, 
and the sole proof we can have of immortal life, you might 
still tell me (as others have done), that, even if you be- 



38 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

lieve all this, you consider it to be wrong. Wrong to speak 
to those whom God gave us for our own ! Wrong, for the 
husband to speak to the wife who was one flesh with him ; 
for the mother to speak to the child she brought into 
the world ! This is the most incredible objection to me 
of all. Say that you don't want to meet your dead friends 
again ; that you are frightened out of your wits at the 
mere idea of seeing a disembodied spirit ; say you have 
left off weeping for them ; that their place is filled by 
another ; that there are thoughts and feelings, and inten- 
tions in your heart that you would not care to submit to 
their investigation — but don't tell me that you consider it 
wrong. For, if Spiritualism is Avrong, God is wrong, and 
the Christ is wrong, and the Bible is wrong, and you have 
nothing left to cling to, for time or eternity ! I'll tell you 
what is wrong. Men and women are wrong ! Their pas- 
sions, their proclivities, their hearts, their inclinations 
are wrong, and the majority leave this world wrong, and 
come back to it wrong, to such as would encourage them 
to do so. If ever you hear a person talk of receiving evil 
communications through Spiritualism, or of hearing evil 
actions spoken lightly of by S2:)irits, you may be sure that 
man's, or that woman's nature is evil, and coarse, and 
sensual, and attracts like to like. It can only attract such 
spirits as stand on the same plane as itself, and such a 
person would choose coarse-minded associates from this 
world, as it would from the next. Do you suppose that, 
directly a spirit leaves the body, it becomes 2)urified and 
angelic? IIow many people that })a.ss away from amongst 
us are fitted to become angels? What becomes of the 
murderers and tliievcs, the licentious and cruel, the 
blasphemous, and liars? ])o you imagine that they do 
not i)()ssess tlie same facilities for revisiting earth as the ■ 
pure-minded and good ? Much more so ; for, being gross , 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 39 

and carnal^ their spirits assimilate more easily with earth 
particles. This is why it behooves us^ in this, as in all 
things, to be most careful. But, because there is evil, are 
we to reject the good ? Because there are murderers and 
blasphemers living in this world, are we to cease to hold 
communion with those whom we love and esteem ? The first 
thing you must learn to believe regarding the disem- 
bodied spirits is, that their return to this world is not 
supernatural. There is 7io stick thing as super-nature! 
Their life in the spheres is but a continuation of their life 
on this earth. Our spirits are like birds confined in cages. 
Their cage doors have been set open — ours are still shut. 
But we can hold communion through the bars. The laws 
for your moral guidance upon earth hold good for your 
spiritual guidance, with regard to those who have left it. 
You would not hold familiar intercourse with thieves and 
drunkards, whilst here. Don^t do it when they have gone 
over there. Remember Saint John^s injunction on this 
subject: "Beloved! believe not every spirit, but try the 
spirits, whether they be of God.^^ * h« * 

I have said that^ if to pursue the science of Spiritualism is 
wrong, God and the Bible must both be wrong. This may 
appear a very bold assertion on my part, but I am pre- 
pared to uphold it. Many of my readers may hold a 
sincere belief in the authenticity of the Scriptures, and 
found their objection to Spiritualism on the fact that 
their teachers have taught them that the Bible forbids its 
practice. Now, it is for such people that I am writing, 
and I will undertake to prove to them, on the testimony 
of the Bible itself, that their teachers are wrong ; that 
Spiritualism is not only lawful, but that it was permitted 
and encouraged of God, and that it is man's increasing 
wickedness, alone, that has caused spiritual guidance to be 
heard of less amongst us. I will prove to them that every 



40 THE SPIRIT ^VORLD. 

phase of it — the dh-ect Toice, levitation^ trance-medium- 
ship, automatic writing, materialization, clairvoyance and 
healing, are all mentioned, practiced, and approved of, in 
the Bible. Also, that there is but one miracle mentioned 
there, that has not been reproduced by the mediums of the 
present century. In addition, that there is nothing to be 
wondered at in the fact, since it was prophesied that it 
should be so. 



CHAPTER III. 

SPIBITUALISM AXD THE BIBLE. 



41 



k 

^■^ In the first place, in reading the Scriptures by the light 
^Bof Spiritualism, we are struck by a remarkable circum- 
stance. In the early books of the Bible, the converse of 
I spirits with men is commonly spoken of, not as a miracle, 
but an every-day occurrence. As the world increased, how- 
ever, and its inhabitants became hardened, and rebellious, 
the appearance of spirits is only mentioned as an occasional 
event, and then permitted in order to bring some hard- 
ened offender, like Belshazzar, to his senses. They were 
there amongst them still, no doubt, but man^s eyes and ears 
had waxed too gross and carnal to see and hear them. 
But when human wickedness had seemed to have reached 
its height, and Grod^s wrath was hot against His ungrateful 
people, the spirits come to the fore again, and the prophets" 
writings are full of nothing else. If we begin at the be- 
ginning, and glance through the Old Testament, we shall 
find that Spiritualism began when the Lord God (Who is 
the first of all spirits) walked in the '' cool of the day,"*^ in 
the G-arden of Eden, with Adam and Eve, and their eyes 
(unblinded, as yet, by grossness and carnality and infidelity) 
were able to see Him, and they held converse with Him. 

Did it ever strike you to question why God came in the 
cool of the day ? The cool of the day, in the East, means 
darkness. There is no twilight there. As soon as the sun 
sets, it is night. Do j^ou remember that, when God created 
the earth, ^^ darkness ^'' was on the face of the waters ; that 
when Moses desired to see the Lord, the answer was . ^' I 



42 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

will come unto thee in a thick cloud ^^; that, in the same 
book of Exodus, it is written: "the thick darkness where 
God was"? 

These texts, and many others like them, have been drum- 
med into our ears from our earliest childhood, before we had 
any minds with which to understand them, until they 
have lost all their real meaning for us, and have to be 
read by a new light before we can properly comprehend 
them. We are brought up to consider it a duty to read a 
portion of the Bible every day, and we go over the same 
chapters again and again, until we know them by heart. 
If any one, who has been accustomed to this habit, would 
lock his Bible away for a few months, and then take it 
out, and peruse it from end to end, as he would any other 
history, he would be astonished to find how differently he 
would regard it. I want my readers to recall these re- 
marks when I allude to them further on. 

Spiritual intercourse was so common in those early days, 
that the sons of God, even, saw that the daughters of men 
were fair, and took them wives of all that they chose. Abra- 
ham entertained three angels, whom he believed to be men, 
so materialized were they, and they ate and drank with him, 
and rested themselves in his tent. So, also, did the two 
angels who came to Lot in Sodom, and saved him from the 
doomed city. 

You will be told that these angels were spirits, who had 
been created by God as angels, and had never lived on 
earth, but it is only conjecture. 

And even if the conjecture be a true one; if angels, who 
must be so much jnirer than any spirits who have left this 
earth, can come here and eat and drink, and converse with 
mortals, wliy not the more carnal spirits of men them- 
selves? If you must believe anything without proof, be- 
li<'v«' tlio more likely solution of a miracle, and not thi 






THE SPIRIT WORLD. 43 

less. It is far less reasonable to suppose that God would 
have sent His holy angels to be tainted by communication 
with mortals, than one of themselves. 

There are four sorts of media mentioned in the Old 
Testament — prophets, seers, wise women, and interpreters 
of dreams. Amongst the latter is Joseph, one of the 
finest characters presented to us in the Bible, as when he 
was called upon to interpret the dreams of Pharoah, and 
his chief butler and baker. And when his father, Jacob, 
was dying, he said to his sons : " Gather yourselves to- 
gether that I may tell you that which shall befall you in 
the last days " — which was simply an exercise of clairvoy- 
ance, so often given to the dying. 

In Exodus, we are told how the Lord taught Moses to be 
what would be called in these days a conjurer. The burn- 
ing bush; the rod which became a serpent ; the hand that 
became leprous, and then turned back again into healthy 
flesh ; the water that changed to blood when poured upon 
the land — what were these but acts of enchantment ? 

The story of Balaam^s ass is too well known to be worth 
quoting here, but no sensible person can believe that the 
animal spoke with a tongue and palate that cannot natural- 
ly articulate sounds of speech. It was, of course, con- 
trolled for the time being by the angel who stood by it. 

In the thirteenth chapter of Deuteronomy, the people of 
Israel are warned against listening to a prophet, or dreamer 
of dreams, that shall try to turn them from worshiping 
God, proving that they were allowed to do so, if he ad- 
vised them aright. In the first book of Samuel and the 
ninth chapter, we are given the story of Saul going with 
his servant to seek his father's lost asses. They cannot 
find them, and Saul advises returning home, lest his father 
should be uneasy. His servant replies : '^ Behold now, 
there is, in this city, a man of God, and he is an honorable 



44 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

man, all that he saith cometh surely to pass ; now let us 
go thither ; peradventure, he can show ns our wa}^ that we 
should go." Saul hesitates because he has no gift to offer 
the clairvoyant, but the servant answers : " I have here the 
fourth part of a shekel of silver ; that will I give to the 
man of God, to tell tis our luay." 

So the men of Grod, you see, were not only jDormitted to 
tell people what was best to do, but to accept money for 
their services. Then comes this remarkable verse : 

" Beforetime in Israel, when a man went to enquire of 
God, thus he spake, Come and let us go to the seer : for he 
that is now called a prophet, was before time called a seer." 

Sauh's servant took him to Samuel, who revealed his 
future to him, for it is said : " The Lord had told Samuel 
in his ear a day before Saul came." 

" And Samuel answered Saul, and said, I am the seer 
* * * / loill tell thee all that is in thine lieart.'^ 

Now, here are the very things that the Church proclaims 
to be diabolical to-day, practiced by the men of God, 
whose histories are written for our encouragement and ex- 
ample. Is it reasonable? Will it hold water? If you 
have any brains or judgment of your own, decide for yoxux- 
self whether, what was right and honorable in the time of 
Samuel, can be wicked and diabolical to-day, in the sight 
of a God, wlio " is the same, yesterday, to-day and forever." 

Saul, it is presumable, afterwards became a medium 
himself, for, in the sixteenth chapter, we read that " an 
evil sjjirit from the Lord troubled him." So that even 
"evil spirits" may be from the Lord, and certainly cannot 
approach us witliout I lis intention. "And it came to 
l^ass, when the evil .spirit from God was upon Saul, that 
David took a liarp and phiyed with his hand : so Saul 
was refreshed and was well, and the evil spirit departed 
from liim." 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 45 

Saul was evidently possessed, for, in the eighteenth 
chapter, it is said that, when the spirit came upon him, he 
had a javelin in his hand, and threw it at David. And 
Saul sent messengers to take David, but ^^the Spirit of 
God was upon the messengers of Saul, and they also 
prophesied. And when it was told Saul, he sent other 
messengers, and they prophesied likewise. And Saul sent 
messengers again, the third time, and they prophesied 
also." 

So that it is plainly told us that prophecy, or clairvoy- 
ance, "foretelling the future," as we should call it now, 
was a gift of the Spirit of God. 

That materialization is a fact, is j)roved by the visit of 
Saul to the witch of Endor, to ask her to raise up the 
spirit of Samuel for him, when Samuel appeared in the 
likeness he held on earth and spoke to Saul of what should 
happen. In the second book of Samuel, we are introduced 
to the wise woman of Tekoah, of whom not a word of 
blame is said, nor of Joab, for consulting her ; and again 
during the siege of Beth-maachah, a wise woman spoke 
thus to Joab : 

" They were wont to speak in old time, saying : They 
shall surely ask counsel at Abel, and so they ended the 
matter. I am one of them that are peaceable and faithful 
in Israel; thou seekest to destroy a city and a mother in 
Israel : why wilt thou swallow up the inheritance of the 
Lord?" 

The woman, thereupon, counseled Joab aright, and her 
story finishes with these words : " Then the woman went 
unto all the people in her wisdom." 

In the book of Kings, Solomon, himself, the wisest man 
in all the earth, is not only a dreamer and a visionary ; but 
we read of IS^athan foretelling the future ; of Ahijah doing 
the same thing ; and of the " man of God," who came out 



46 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

of Judah and stood by Jeroboam by the altar, and when 
the king tried to lay hold of him, his hand was shriveled 
up, and then made whole again by his mysterious power. 
The king then asked the prophet to go home with him 
and take refreshment, but he declined because God had 
told him not to eat, nor drink, by the way. Mediums who 
eat and drink much in these days cannot procure good 
manifestations, and you will see, as my argument proceeds, 
that the manifestations of olden times, by whomever per- 
formed, were as subject to laws and conditions as the 
manifestations of to-day. A lying prophet, however (so 
there were lying mediums then, just the same as now), 
persuaded the man of God to disobey the orders he had 
received, and he paid the penalty with his life. 

Xext, Jeroboam's son, Abijah, fell sick, and he says to 
his wife : " Arise, I pray thee, and disguise thyself, that 
thou be not known to be the wife of Jeroboam " (how 
often do not people disguise themselves, or try to do so, in 
the nineteenth century, when they go to consult a medium) 
'' and get thee to Shiloh ; behold, there is Ahijah the 
prophet, which told me I should be king over this people. 
And take with thee ten loaves, and cracknels, and a cruse 
of honey, and go to him : he sliall tell thee what shall 
become of the child." 

She obeys her husband, and Ahijah tells her of Jero- 
boam's coming doom, and that lier child will die at her 
feet, before she can recross the threshold of her own 
home, which he does. 

In the seventeenth chapter of the same book, we have 
the account of Elijah's 2)ro2)liecies, of the miracles he 2)er- 
formed witli the cruse of oil, and the barrel of meal for tlie 
widow of Zarephath, and iiow he restored her son to life — 
which would not be at all an uncommon miracle*to-day, if 
it were tried directly after an a})parciit death; for the S2:)irit, 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 47 

in most instances, is united to the body for some little 
time after pulsation has ceased. " And the woman said 
to Elijah, now, hy this, I know that thou art a man of 
God.'^ 

The life of Elijah is full of such stories. He is called a 
mighty prophet, because, when he opposed his power to 
that of the priests of Baal, the fire refused to burn their 
sacrifice, and fell down upon his. The late Mr. Home 
took not once, but dozens, perhaps hundreds of times, live 
fire from the grate, and held it in his hands, and placed it in 
those of his friends, without their being burned ; he even 
put a living, flaming coal into the long, white hair of 
dear, old Samuel Carter Hall, without leaving a trace of 
fire or singeing behind. But he was called a humbug for 
his pains ! One of the signs by which the Christ declared 
that his followers should be known, was the immunity with 
which they should handle such things. 

^^ These signs shall follow them which believe (them 
which believe, remember, not only his disciples, and not 
only at that period), they shall cast out devils, speak with 
new tongues, take up serpents, and if they drink any 
deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands 
upon the sick, and they shall recover.^^ 

Now, which of the Church, luho helieve, has ever done 
such things ? Has the Archbishop of Canterbury, or the Pope 
of Rome? Could they take a live coal from the fire with 
their naked hands, and not be burned ? But those whom 
the spirits help, can ! And who shall dare, after reading 
the text I have quoted, to say it is by the power of the 
devil ? Truly, this is a stubborn and stiif-necked genera- 
tion, which will believe only what it wishes to believe and 
would call Elijah a charlatan — yes ! even the priests who 
preach about him, would be the first to turn their backs 
on him, and say he had dealings with the evil one, if he 



48 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

reappeared on earth and performed the miracles he did, 
whilst here before. 

The people in those days must have kept their private 
mediums, for when Jehoshaphat wanted to consult Elijah, 
he said : ^^ Get thee to the prophets of thy father and the 
prophets of thy mother.^^ 

But they were not always successful, for when the Shun- 
namite woman went to Elijah, after her son^s death, he 
could not tell her errand : " The Lord hath hid it from me 
and hath not told me/^ 

In the first of Chronicles, we read : " And the Lord 
spake unto God, David's seer" — as though David kept 
God for his private edification. Surely, had it been wrong, 
God would not have spoken through him. In another 
verse, we read that the angel appeared in the threshing 
floor of Oman, the Jebusite, where Oman and his four 
sons all saw him, and were much frightened, by which we 
may conclude that the angels' visits to men were now be- 
coming few and far between. The world had become 
wicked and rebellious, and the simple faith of Abraham, 
Isaac and Jacob, was a thing of the past. What fellow- 
ship had the spirits with them ? They thought only of 
their own bodies, and the means to aggrandize themselves. 
Tliey would not have enjoyed spiritual intercourse, nor 
understood spiritual language. We hear scarcely anything 
more of angels, or spirits, until we come to the lamenta- 
tions of the prophets (or seers), over the wickedness of 
mankind. Elipliaz, the Temanite, says to Job, indeed : 
" A spirit passed before my face ; the hair of my flesh 
stood \x\). It stood still, but I could not discern the form 
tliereof ; an image was before mine eyes, and I heard a 
voice, saying : Shall mortal man be more just than God ? '* 
but it is not till we come to Ezekiel tliat we read much of 
spirits again. 



I 



THE SPIKIT WORLD. 49 



Then there appears to have been a rush of Spirituality 
pon the prophets, in order to arouse and warn the world. 
Ezekiel speaks familiarly of them. 

" The spirit entered into me and set me on my feet.^^ 

^^ Then the spirit took me up, and I heard behind me a 
voice of a great rushing, saying : Blessed be the glory of 
the Lord from His place. I heard also the noise of the 
wings of the living creatures that touched one another, and 
the noise of the wheels over against them, and a noise of 
a great rushing. So the spirit lifted me up, and took me 
away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit, but 
the hand of the Lord was strong upon me. Then I came 
to them of the captivity of Tel-abib, that dwelt by the river 
of Chebar, and I sat where they sat, and remained there, 
astonished^ among them seven days/^ 

This is a plain instance of levitation — an instance which 
is multiplied as the history goes on. In the twenty-fourth 
verse of the same chapter, he writes : 

" Then the spirit entered into me, and set me upon my 
feet, and spake with me, and said unto me. Go, shut thyself 
within thine house " — which shows that the spirit spoken of 
was a separate entity from Ezekiel, which took possession 
of his body, and spoke with his tongue, and it is not a 
figurative way of speaking of the spirit, or will of God, as 
some theologians try to argue. In fact, to listen to some 
men, one would think the whole object of their lives was to 
wrest all the words of Scripture into some nieaning entirely 
opposite to what they sound like. If the Bible is the in- 
spired word of God, and it is so incomprehensible that no 
one can understand it, except theologians, and each one of 
them interprets it differently, what is the meaning of the 
promise : *^ He who runs, shall read.^' What, indeed, we 
may say, was the good of God inspiring it, if He left it a 
hopeless jumble that only priests can make head or tail of ? 



50 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

How terribly the critics would be down upon a mortal 
writer who wrote exactly opposite from what he intended 
the public to understand. I often think the worst friends 
of the Almighty are those who profess to know all about 
Him. He does not exist, believe me, for the elect and the 
learned alone. He is for every one of His children, and if 
there is one word in the Scriptures which would lead the 
most ignorant astray, if left to his own interpretation, 
then the whole book is a fable and a mockery. 

To resume my argument, in the thirteenth chapter of 
Ezekiel, we read : ^^ Thus saith the Lord God : woe unto 
the foolish prophets, that follow their oiun spirit, and have 
seen nothing,'' which argues that had they followed a spirit 
other than their own, they would have seen something. 
'' They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, the 
Lord saith : and the Lord hath not sent them ; and they 
have made others to hope that they would confirm the 
word.^' 

Ergo: the Lord did send some mediums, who were 
authorized to make others to hope ! 

Enough of Ezekiel ; we now come to Daniel, the holy 
man of God, whom even the lions would not touch. We are 
told : " Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his 
spirit was troubled, and his sleep frake from him." As the 
magicians and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the 
Chaldeans failed to interpret his dreams, the pleasant old 
gentleman ordered the whole lot of wise men to be slain, 
including Daniel. 

" Tlien Daniel went in unto the king, and desired of the 
king tliat he would give him time, and that he would show 
tlie king the interpretation thereof," which he eventually 
did. 

In the fifth chapter, we find thafc, when Belshazzar, the 
son of Nebucliadnezzar, saw the materialized hand come 



THE SPIKIT WORLD. 51 

forth, and write upon the wall, and was greatly troubled 
thereat, his queen said to him : 

^^ There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit 
of the holy gods; and in the days of thy father, light and 
understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, 
was found in him; whom the king Nebuchadnezzar, thy 
father, made master of the magicians, astrologers, Chal- 
deans, and soothsayers. Forasmuch as an excellent spirit, 
and knowledge, and understanding, and interpreting of 
dreams, and showing of hard sentences, and dissolving of 
doubts were found in the same Daniel, now let Daniel be 
called, and he will show the interpretation/^ 

After which follows the well-known story of "Mene, 
Mene, Tekel, Upharsin,^' which is perfectly intelligible 
to any one acquainted with clairvoyance, and the interpre- 
tation of dreams. There is one sentence in it, however, 
which, perhaps, no one but a spiritualist would notice. 
When Daniel has told the king that the warning has been 
sent him on account of his not having humbled his heart, 
he goes on, in the twenty-fourth verse, to say (having just 
spoken of Nebuchadnezzar, his father) : " Then was the 
part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was 
written."' 

Has any one before me noticed that the hand belonged to 
Ki7ig Nebuchadnezzar^ and, consequently, he appeared 
partly materialized to his son ? But what price for Daniel, 
in the nineteenth century, if he were brought up, by any 
of the bigoted opposers of Spiritualism, before a city magis- 
trate ? He would get a year's imprisonment at the very 
least, or three months' hard labor, without the option of a 
fine. Yet, that seems strange in a Christian country, that 
pins its faith on ^' the Bible, and nothing but the Bible," 
considering that Daniel practiced his illegal arts by God's 
orders and under His instructions. 



o2 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

The prophet^ it seems, fasted also, the same as mediums 
do in these days, when he Avished to see visions. 

" In those days, I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks. 
I ate no pleasant bread^ neither came fleshy nor wine, in 
my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three 
whole weeks were fulfilled. And in the four and tAventieth 
day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great 
river, which is Hiddekel, then I lifted up mine eyes, and 
looked, and behold, a certain man clothed in linen, whose 
loins were girded Avith fine gold of Uphaz. His body, also, 
Avas like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of 
lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and 
his feet like in color to polished brass, and the A^oice of his 
words like the voice of a multitude.^^ * * * ^^Yet, 
heard I the voice of his words, and Avhen I heard the voice 
of his words, then was I in a deep sleep on my face, and my 
face toAvard the ground. And, behold, a hand touched me 
which set me upon my knees, and upon the palms of my 
hands." * * * <f Then there came again and touched 
me, one like the appearance of a man, and he strengthened 
me." 

Here, you will perceive, there is no question of their 
being angels or spirits seen clairvoyantly. Daniel Avrites 
of them as men, and, doubtless, so they seemed to him, 
being materialized spirits, which it is so hard to make the 
ignorant believe reappear, looking just like mortals. 

And noAV come what seem to me to be two of the most 
remarkable proofs contained in the Bible, that spiritual 
intercourse, Avlien true (and, naturally, tliis and every age 
resents falsehood and deception in every shape), is not 
only permitted, but Messed of God, from whom alone it 
can proceed. In the tliirteenth chai^ter of Zechariah^ 
when tlie Lord of Hosts is predicting a purgation for 
Jerusalem, lie savs : 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 53 

'^ I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass 
out of the land. And it shall come to pass that, when any 
shall yet prophesy^ then his father and his mother that 
begat him shall say unto him : thou shalt not live, for 
thou speakest lies in the name of the Lord ; and his father 
and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through 
when he prophesieth. And it shall come to pass in that day 
that the prophets shall be ashamed, every one, of his vision 
when he hath prophesied/^ 

I have quoted this text on purpose to show how un- 
fairly people argue a subject when they are determined to 
oppose it. A parson, to whom I quoted the above, seized on 
it at once, as a proof that God disapproved of all inter- 
course with the spiritual world, and had set His veto on it, 
by saying He should cause it to pass out of the land. 
But I have a trump card up my sleeve all the time for 
him. In the second chapter of Joel, where God is speak- 
ing of all the blessings He designs to heap upon repentant 
Zion, after having promised her wheat, and wine, and oil, 
and that her people should eat in plenty. He adds : " And 
it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my 
Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters 
shall prophesy — your old men shall dream dreams — your 
young men shall see visions ; and also upon the servants and 
upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit, 
and I will show wonders in the heavens and the earth.'^ 

Of course I know that many of my readers will not ac- 
cept the words of the Bible as evidence — that they consider 
it a very jumbled history of the times, written long after 
the events spoken of took place, and in the fantastical and 
allegorical language of the East, so that it is difficult to 
know what the writers of it did, or did not, mean. The 
interpretation of it has been made for us, not by God, nor 
even a Daniel, but by men, who felt compelled to explain it 



64 THE SPIEIT AYORLD. 

in some way or other, and so made it fit in, with their own 
doctrines. 

The mere fact that the New Testament^ which we were 
taught from childhood to believe, was founded on the teach- 
ings of a Saviour, who was sent into the world for the 
salvation of the Christians, is only a reprint of the book 
of Buddha, who was in existence 560 years before Christ 
was born, is in itself sufficient to make us all regard the 
biblical statements as shaky. I know that I, for one, felt 
terribly aggrieved when I read Arthur Lillie's " Buddha 
and Early Buddhism,^' and as if I had been most unjustly 
taken in. What does the Church say to such statements 
as are contained in this book ? Does she deny them ; can 
she prove they are untrue? and, if not, how can she dare 
to go on preaching the same fables, and leading the people, 
who know less than herself, wrong ? 

Still, true or untrue, if the Bible does not contain any 
injunctions against Spiritualism, what does? If the only 
records we possess, which profess to tell us of God^s laws, 
show Him as permitting His people to practice it, who is 
to say us nay ? 

The Church ! Yes, certainly, and for her own purposes ! 
Did she not do so from the beginning? Moses and Aaron, 
who were among the first priests we read of, had practiced 
all sorts of mediumship before they were called to take 
charge of the Israelites ; but, as soon as they had to make 
laws for them, they forbade any man or woman to have 
dealings with familiar spirits. It was only then as it is 
now. Moses was raised in Egy2)t, and the Egyptians have 
been famed, from time immemorial, for being past-masters 
in the arts of magic and necromancy. He was a magician 
also, as he proved when he stood before Pharaoh ; but, 
wlien he became a priest, he forbade his followers from 
imitating him. He Avanted to keep all that sort of thing 



I 



THE SPIEIT WOKLD. 55 

to Aaron and himself^ that they might appear more 
wonderful in the eyes of the congregation. Moses, with 
his " familiar spirits," and the Church, with its " diabo- 
lism." Can any one point out where the diiference lies? 
Both wished to keep the power within the ci;:'cle of their 
own authority. There it is the revelation of God ; outside 
it becomes dealings with the devil ! Isn't the matter very 
plain ? Taught of spirits, we are taught of God, as Daniel 
and Joel and Ezekiel were taught. You will mark, in pe- 
rusing the Bible, that, at first, there were no priests. The 
people were taught of their Heavenly Father through His 
angels. But, as a church was founded, and a temple was 
built, and priests were ordained, so will you read less and 
less of spiritual communication. It is the same now. The 
purer and simpler the life, the greater the faith in God 
and the ministry of His guardian angels. I know a parson 
in the north of England, in charge of a mining district, 
who says he can make no impression on his parishioners, 
because they are all spiritualists. These rough miners, who 
spend their lives in temporal darkness, are too spiritually 
enlightened to care to listen to his old-world theories. 
Most of my readers, I conclude, accept the story of the 
Christ as a reliable account of what took place. The 
Christian world is taught to believe it to be the inspired 
word of God, written especially for their edification. How 
that theory accords with the history of Buddha, to which 
I have already made reference, and which was vouched for, 
460 years before, I leave it for my readers to determine ; 
but one thing is certain — neither the miracles of Christ 
nor the miracles of Buddha have received any satisfactory 
explanation, until Spiritualism made them plain. Whoever 
has seen his or her friend appear after death in a material- 
ized form can understand the resurrection of Christ. No 
one else can. And, because they cannot understand it. 



56 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

they call it miraculous. Christ was the greatest medium 
this world has ever known. Well was he called Joshua the 
Healer ! I say it in all reverence, and with no wish to de- 
preciate his extraordinary powers : Why should we be so 
anxious to ascribe everything he did to a supernatural 
agency ? Had he introduced the telej^hone, or phonograph, 
or the electric light, it would have appeared quite as great a 
miracle in those days as anything he did. Added to which, 
he constantly denied that he possessed greater power than 
any of his followers might have if gifted with the same 
faith — a fact which theologians appear to me to have sys- 
tematically overlooked, or wilfully been silent upon. The 
story of Christ's miraculous birth I purposely pass over. 
The same, or a very similar account, was written of the 
birth of Buddha. If it were true of one, it may have been 
true of the other ; but it has always seemed strange to me 
that the God Who denounced adultery and fornication in 
His children should have ordained, or countenanced, such 
a birth. I would rather try to prove to you that Christ 
was a medium ; and, if he was God, his miracles were no 
greater than those which have been performed since his 
time, as, indeed, he promised should be. 

He was a healing medium. "Healing all manner of 
sickness and all manner of disease among the people ; and 
his fame went throughout all Syria, and they brought 
unto him all sick people, that were taken with divers 
diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with 
devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the 
palsy ; and he healed them." 

"And, behold, there came a leper and worshiped him, 
saying : Lord, if tliou wilt, thou canst make me clean. 
And Jesus put forth his hand and touched him,, saying : I 
will ; be tliou clean. And immediately his leprosy was 
cleansed." 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 57 

" And, when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw 
his wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever. And he touched 
her hand, and the fever left her." 

'' And, when Jesus departed thence, two blind men fol- 
lowed him, crying, and saying : Thou Son of David, have 
mercy on us. And when Jesus said unto them : Believe 
ye that I am aUe to do this f they said unto him : Yea, 
Lord. Then touched he their eyes, saying : According to 
your faith be it unto you.'' 

I want to call your attention that, in every case of heal- 
ing, Christ had to touch the sick person ; also, that he 
could not practice his healing mediumship without losing 
some of his vitality, or natural power. What did he say 
when the woman with the issue of blood came behind him 
in the crowd, and touched the hem of his garment ? " Some 
one hath touched me, for I perceive that virtue hath gone 
out of me.''' When he called together his twelve disciples, 
or pupils, he bestowed upon them the same power he pos- 
sessed himself. How could they have inherited what be- 
longed to God alone, unless it had been a natural power, 
open to the capability of men? ^'Heal the sick," said 
Christ ; " cleanse the lepers ; raise the dead ; cast out 
devils." No one has ever ventured to ascribe miraculous 
powers to the disciples. They were only a set of unlearned 
fishermen. Jesus had selected them, doubtless, for their 
mediumistic powers (which we all possess, in a smaller or 
larger degree) ; but they could not have performed miracles, 
unless controlled by spiritual agencies. And he foresaw 
what their mediumship should bring upon them, when he 
added : " If they had called the master of the house 
Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his 
household ? " Has not that prophecy been fulfilled in the 
present day ? Do not all the opponents of Spiritualism de- 
clare that it is effected by the agency of the devil, and 



58 THE SPIKIT WORLD. 

would wrest this text into half a dozen different meanings 
rather than allow that it plainly refers to the mediumship 
of to-day ? And when the Pharisees said that Christ cast 
out devils by Beelzebub, he answered them : " If I, by 
Beelzebub, cast out devils, by whom do your children cast 
them out ? But if I cast out devils, by the Spirit of God, 
then the Jcingdom of God is come unto you/' 

Christ was a physical medium ! He changed the water 
into wine. He made seven loaves and two fishes feed a 
multitude. He walked upon the water. He caused money 
to be found in the mouth of a fish. But these powers were 
.not always with him. They depended upon times and con- 
ditions, just as they do now. Else, what is the meaning of 
the text : " He did not many works there, because of their 
unhelief" (i. e., of their scepticism) : And when the disci- 
ples asked him why they could not cast out a certain devil, 
he replied : " Because of your unbelief " ; which proves that 
the spiritual powers will not help those who have no faith 
in them. 

Christ was a inaterializing medium. He raised the dead. 
A white dove was materialized above his head. The direct 
voice was heard through him. He called down Moses and 
Elias, materialized, to talk with him. And, on that occasion, 
I want you to observe that the cloud overshadowed him 
before the direct voice was heard. Yet, these miracles 
were subject to external influences. He could not raise the 
daughter of Jairus until he liad " put them all out of the 
room" {i. e., eliminated all opposing infiuences). Of cer- 
tain devils, he said : ^' This kind goetli not out, except by 
j)rayer and fasting," proving that he was compelled to sub- 
mit to natural laws, just the same as mediums are to-day. 
When tlie Pharisees said he cast out devils by the prince of 
devils, wliat was liis reply ? " If Satan cast out Satan, he 
is divided against liimself." And, in like manner, if the 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 59 

devil comes to us to-day, in the guise of our departed 
friends, to incite us to lead worthier and holier lives, he is 
defeating the very purpose for which he is supposed to ex- 
ist. Did Christ consider the exercise of mediumship to be 
wrong? He said: "He that receiveth a prophet in the 
name of a prophet, shall receive a prophet's reward.'' 
And, again : " There is no man that can do a miracle in my 
name that can speak lightly of me," and he said this when 
the disciples had been rebuking some one for casting out 
devils. " The works that I do, shall he do also, and greater 
worhs than these shall he do." Now, what greater works 
than Christ's have been done since his day ? The disciples' 
miracles never came up to his. Yet, he said, positively, that 
they should te done. All the men who have lived, and 
died since then; those who have paid for their faith with 
their blood, and those who have been fiendish enough to 
spill the blood of their fellow creatures, in the attempt to 
force them to adopt their own opinions, martyrs and exe- 
cutioners alike, have never performed one miracle; yet 
Christ declared, emphatically, they were to de. And so they 
will, when we have eliminated our carnality and cultivated 
our spirituality more ; when our teachers go before us, 
like shepherds before their sheep, and show us how it is to 
be done ; when they cease to think so much about the 
loaves and fishes for themselves ; about the temporal 
power and the temporal advantage ; and help us to open 
the door for the spirits to come in and help us, instead of 
slamming it in their faces, as they do now — then miracles 
will once more be performed on this earth, and God will 
walk with Man, as he did of old. Can you recall the de- 
tailed account of the resurrection of Christ ? Eemember, 
that it took place hy night. It was the crowning miracle, 
that was to pulverize the unbelieving world, and yet it took 
place in darkness, giving the Jews occasion to say that the 



60 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

disciples had come by night, and stolen the body away. 
The resurrection would certainly have been more convinc- 
ing if it had taken place in the daytime, and before the 
eyes of all men ! Why did it not ? Simply because it was 
impossible ! Darkness was necessary for the creation of 
the world. Darkness was necessary for God to come down 
to speak to Moses in. And darkness was necessary for 
Christ to resurrect his body in. But, if we urge the neces- 
sity of darkness for a materializing seance, we are told that 
it must incontestably be a cover for fraud and chicanery. 
Mary Magdalene, who had come to the sepulchre whilst it 
tvas yet darlc, expressly to see Christ, turned, and saw him 
standing beside her, and Icneio not that it ivas Jesus. 
^* Jesus saith unto her. Why weepest thou, whom seekest 
thou? She, sujjposing him to he the gardener, saith unto 
him : Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where 
thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus saith 
unto her, Mary ! She turned herself, and said unto him, 
Rabboni ! which is to say. Master ! Jesus saith unto her, 
Toucli me not : for I am not yet ascended to my Father; 
but go to my brethren and say to them : I ascend unto my 
Father and your Father ; and to my God and your God." 

Xow, I ask you to lay aside all your early prejudices, and 
consider for one moment why should Mary Magdalene 
have mistaken Christ for the gardener? Christ was a 
high class Jew, and, if contemporaneous history speaks 
truly, a fair man. Publius Neutulus, in writing of him, 
says : ^' Ilis hair is of the color of a filbert ; full, ripe and 
plain, down to his ears, but from his ears downwards, 
somewliat curled, and more orient of color waving about 
his shoulders; liis forehead very smooth and plain * * * his 
face, nose and mouth so framed, as nothing can be repre- 
liendod ; his beard somewluit thick, agreeable to the hair of 
his head for color * * * his eyes gray, clear and quick." The 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 61 

gardener was, in all probability, a common, dark-skinned 
eastern coolie, one of the lowest types of natives. The 
hewers of wood and drawers of water are selected, to this 
day, from the lowest castes, and for a very good reason ; 
namely, that no others will undertake the work. The Jews, 
too, wore long garments, white or colored, reaching to their 
feet ; the gardener, probably, only a rag girt about his 
loins ; possibly not even that. How, then, could the two 
men have resembled each other, even for a few moments, 
unless the gardener was the medium, who served for Christ^s 
reappearance? The partial resemblance, which most 
materialized spirits bear to their medium, especially on 
their first appearance, has been a subject of much argu- 
ment, and more incredulity, amongst enquirers into Spirit- 
ualism. The reason that has been given me for it, I shall 
touch on in another chapter. But here is a direct state- 
ment, that the fact is not reserved for our own times alone. 
When Jesus spoke to Mary, she recognized his voice, and 
was probably rushing forward, in her delight, to catch him 
by the garment. What were his first words? " Touch 
me, not ! " 

And yet the sceptics complain if they are not allowed to 
grasp and clasp a materialized spirit in their arms ! 

After the death of Christ on the cross, what occurred ? 
" The spirits of many that slept arose, and came out of 
their graves, and went into the city, and were seen of 
many ; " and Christ, himself, twice passed through closed 
doors to visit his disci|)les, and appeared on the seashore 
and to the disciples at Emmaus. People have said to me 
that it is " too ridiculous " to think of spirits eating and 
drinking, as, " of course,'^ we shall never do anything of 
the sort after we have quitted this earth. Another from 
the many proofs I could bring forward that the majority 
read their Bible without understanding it, that it is to 



62 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

them but as "sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal/^ Did 
not Jesus tell his disciples, at the last supper, that he should 
not drink wine again, ujitil he drank it new with them in 
his Father's kingdom ? "When he appeared to them on the 
seashore, did he not ask for food, and eat broiled fish and 
honeycomb with them ? And, when he sat down to table 
with the disciples at Emmaus, did he not break bread 
before he vanished from their sight ? A very old friend of 
mine, one who calls herself, and is, a Bible Christian, was 
discussing some of the statements in " There is no Death " 
with me, and animadverted rather freely on the familiarity 
with which I have written of the next spheres. " My dear ! " 
she ejaculated, " of course it is all very interesting and 
wonderful, but there are parts of it I cannot understand. 
You write as if we are to go on almost the same in the 
next world as we do here. You speak of eating and drink- 
ing, and houses, and it is so impossible to believe that we 
shall continue to live in houses and sit down and all that 
sort of thing, you know.'^ 

My answer was conveyed by another question. 

" Have you ever read the Bible ? '^ 

My friend was horrified at the question. She lifted her 
hands to heaven, as she replied : " My dear, you know that 
the Bible is my constant companion, my daily guide." 

" And is not heaven described there as a city ' paved 
with gold ' and having ' gates of pearl ? ' " 

"' Certainly ! " 

" When men build a city on earth/' I said, " do they not 
make the excavations first, then erect the houses, then 
make the roads, and, lastly, lay the pavements; and what 
for? — to protect the foot-passengers from the traffic. 
What would be the use of gold pavements unless there 
were buildings and roads? AVhat the good of gates of 
pearl unless they enclosed walls? Do you suppose that 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 63 

they will open to let you into a jungle paved with 
gold?'^ 

She pondered a moment, and then said : " Well, it is 
very strange, but I never thought of it in that light before. 
I have understood that it was all figurative, typical of the 
glories awaiting us ; but your view of it really seems very 
reasonable." 

And this is how the majority of Christians regard the 
Bible — as a species of fairy tale, which they can interpret 
just as they like, and I don't say that it is not a fairy 
tale ; but, if we accept it at all, we must take it as it is 
written. 

Christ materialized on two occasions when the disciples 
were assembled together in an upper room, when it is par- 
ticularly mentioned that "the doors were shut," and on 
these occasions he touched them and spoke to them. After 
which his followers began to prophesy and to preach with 
divers tongues, and to send the handkerchiefs from off 
their bodies to the sick, and they were healed. What was 
that but healing mediumship, practiced in the same manner 
to this day ? Do you remember the " mighty, rushing 
wind," that filled all the house, on the day of Pentecost, 
when the apostles were inspired ? That " wind " is the un- 
mistakable sign of a successful seance to this day, whether 
the Holy Spirit visits the sitters, or not. 

You must see, from the quotations I have given you, that, 
if Spiritualism is diabolism, the practices of the servants of 
God, both in the Old and New Testaments, must have been 
diabolism also. For the laws of Nature do not change, 
though centuries intervene, and if it be wrong for you and 
me to hold communion with the friends who have gone 
before us, it must have been equally wrong for them ; and, 
since we cannot question the right of what our God does, 
or sanctions, we may conclude that he allows us the same 



64 THE SPIKIT AVOKLD. 

privileges that lie bestowed as an especial blessing upon 
them. 

One quotation more, and I have done. Saint Paul says : 
" There are diversities of gifts. To some, the gifts of heal- 
ing ; to some, the working of miracles ; to some, prophecy ; 
to some, discerning of spirits ; to some, divers tongues ; 
to some, the interpretation of tongues. But all these 
worketh the self-same sj)irit. Wherefore, brethren, covet 
to j^ropliesy.'' 

Covet, that is, to do exactly what hundreds of clair- 
voyants are doing all over the world at the present moment 
— to foretell the future, so that we may be prepared to 
meet it. 

There is no other interpretation of these texts for un- 
biased people. Theologians may dispute the fact, but 
theologians are famous for wresting Scripture to their own 
advantage. I never met with one who could argue straight 
and fair, nor two who could argue alike. But, as I have 
said before, if you accept the Bible at all, you must take it 
as it is written. If we do not, who is to decide, at this dis- 
tance of time, and from the lame translation that is offered 
us, what is its true meaning, or what is not ? Any way, I 
hope I have made it plain, at all events, that Spiritualism, 
whatever the Church may say, was not forbidden, or dis- 
couraged, of God. And I hope, too, that what 1 have written 
may cause some of my readers to open their Bibles again, 
and read them by a light that may throw a new meaning 
ui)on tlieir revelations. 



65 



CHAPTER lY. 

WHAT AUTHORS AXD POETS THIXK OF SPIRITUALISM. 

And now, having seen what the writers of the Scriptures 
thought of Spiritualism, and read what they wrote about 
it, let us turn to the authors and poets of a later date, and 
analyze their inward convictions on the same subject. If 
you search the records of this, and every era, you will not 
fail to find traces of their writers' belief (though, perhaps, 
unacknowledged even to themselves), in the power of the 
spirits of the dead to revisit this earth. You all know what 
Longfellow, the greatest poet, and one of the greatest 
men, that America has ever produced, says on the subject : 

" There is no death, what seems so is transition ; 
This life of mortal breath 
Is but a suburb of the life Elysian, 
Whose portals we call death." 

And the Reverend John Keble wrote : 

"For, in truth, 
Man's spirit knows not death, but sets aside 
The interlinear boundaries of the flesh. 
And in its thoughts, which are its proper self, 
Holds intercourse with those which are unseen, 
As if they were still with us.'' 

And thus wrote Adam Clarke (who, by the way, was the 
great-grandfather of Bessie Russell Davies, the clair- 
voyante), in his Commentaries : 



66 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

"I believe that there is a supernatural and spiritual 
world, in which human S23irits, both good and bad, live in 
a state of consciousness, and I believe that any of these 
spirits may (according to the order of God, in the laws of 
their place of residence) hare intercourse ivith this ivorld, 
and lecome visible to men.^' 

I quoted this passage whilst lecturing a few weeks back, 
and some would-be wiseacre took me u}^ in print for saying 
that Adam Clarke had been a spiritualist ; whereas, I said 
nothing of the sort. But, if the above sentence does not 
include the whole faith of Spiritualism, I don't know what 
does. The only difference being, that a spiritualist would 
have exchanged the words ^' I believe " for ''^ I know." 

The late Dr. Gumming, who was one of the most hard- 
headed and least sentimental men of his time, wrote : 

" This is certain: Angels descend, and minister to the 
comfort of the suffering ; those angels return from their 
ministry to the choirs of the happy, and can we suppose 
they will be silent on what they have seen, and to whom 
they have ministered below? " 

And again : ^*' Shall we admit that fallen angels may 
reach the heart, irrespective of the volition of its possessor, 
and that good angels cannot do the same? " And he adds : 
" I cannot believe that an evil spirit would speak the truth, 
or attest tlie inspiration of tlie Bible ; for if a kingdom be 
divided against itself, how can it stand ? " 

Here is a quotation from the writings of the Reverend 
David Thomas : 

*' The departed arc tJi inking, feelbuj, acting still. Their 
bodies are in the dust, but their bodies are there — not them; 
tlioir instruments, not themselves. 'J'he breaking up of the 
luirp destroys neither the life, nor the music of the lyrist. 
The science and love of sweet sounds may still inspire his 
l)reast ; lie may grasp some otlier instrument, and send 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 67 

forth strains more rich, more deep, more entrancing, than 
ever." 

And this is the opinion of William Ellery Channing : 
"Although we are accustomed to think of Heaven as 
distant, of this we have no proof. Heaven is the union, 
the society, of the spiritual higher beings. May not these 
fill the universe? A new sense, a new eye might show the 
spiritual loorlcl compassing us on every side.'' 

These are but a few gems, gathered hastily, here and 
there, from the writings of some of our divines ; to quote 
the innumerable passages met with in the course of one^s 
reading, which prove the universality of this belief, would 
be to fill a volume much larger than the one I am compiling 
now. But, to search through the poets, would incline one to 
believe that it is impossible to be a poet, without being a 
spiritualist, at heart, if not by open confession. I com- 
mence with an extract from Adelaide Anne Proctor^s 
'Story of the Faithful Soul " : 

" If I could only see him — if I could only go 
And speak one word of comfort and solace — then I 

know 
He would endure with patience and strive against 
his woe." 

****** 
** You may seek him who mourns you and look upon 
his face 
And speak to him of comfort for one short minute's 
space." 

: From Longfellow's '' Footsteps of Angels '' : 

" Then the forms of the departed enter at the open 
door ; 
The beloved, the true-hearted, come to visit me 
once more." 



68 THE SPIEIT WORLD. 

From Coleridge's " Christabel '' : 

" What if her guardian spirit 'twere ? What if she knew 
her mother near ? 
But this she knows, in joys or woes, that saints will 

aid, if men will call; 
For the blue sky bends over all." 



From Scott's *'^ Lay of the Last Minstrel ^^ : 

" That he had seen right, certainly, 
A shape with amice wrapped around, 
With a wrought Spanish baldric bound. 
Like a pilgrim from beyond the sea ; 
And knew — but how, it mattered not — 
It was the wizard, Michael Scott." 



From Tom Hood's '*' 1 launted House " : 

' ' For, over all, there huug a cloud of fear, 
A sense of mystery the spirit daunted. 
And said, as plain as whisper to the ear, 
The place is haunted." 



From I^yroii's '• Manfred "' : 

" Can this be death ? there's bloom upon her cheek ; 
But, now, I see it is no living hue, but a strange hectic 

— like the unnatural red which autumn plants upon 

the perished leaf. 
It is the same I O God ! that I should dread to look 

upon the same. 
Astarte ! Ko I I cannot speak to her " 



THE SPIRIT AYORLD. 69 

From Moore^s " Paradise and the Peri '' : 

** She wept — the air grew pure and clear around her as 
the bright drops ran 
^ For there's a magic in each tear such kindly spirits weep 

p. for men. " 

From Mrs. Barrett Browning's '^ Bertlia in tlie Lane " : 

" Mother ! mother ! thou art kind, thou art standing in 
the room, 
In a molten glory shrined, that rays off into the gloom ! 
But, thy smile is bright and bleak, like cold waves — 
I cannot speak; 
I sob in it and grow weak. " 

From Sir Edwin Arnold^s " A Surprise ^' : 

" The greatest wonder is this — I hear, 
I see thee, I touch thee, I love thee, dear ! 
And I am thy angel, who was thy bride, 
And know that, though dead, ITiate never died ! " 

From Tennyson^s '^ May Queen '' : 

" But you were sleeping, and I said : ' It's not for them ; 

it's mine.' 
And if it comes three times, I thought, I take it for 

a sign. 
And once again it came, and close beside the window 

bars, 
Then seemed to go right up to heaven, and die among 

the stars. 
So, now, I think, my time is near. " 

From Wordsworth^s " Intimations of Immortality " : 

" Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting ; 
The soul that rises with us, our life's star, 
Hath had, elsewhere, its setting, and cometh from afar." 



TO THE SPIRIT ^VORLD. 

From Shakespeare's " Hamlet " and " Macbeth '' : 

' ' How now, Horatio ! you tremble and look pale ; 
Is not this something more than fantasy ? What think 



YOU on't ? '• 



' ' What quite unmanned in folly ? 
If I stand here, I saw him / " 

From Milton's "' Paradise Lost '" : 

" Millions of spiritual heings walk the earth, 
Both when we wake and when we sleep. " 

From Lord Lytton's " There is no Death " : 

" And emr near us, though unseen, the dear, immxyrtal 
spirits tread, 
For all the boundless universe is life — there are no dead! " 

From Hedderwick's "I cannot dread the death made 
beautiful by thee " : 
" O ! say, wilt thou come down to me^ or I to thee arise ?" 

From ("harlotte Elizabeth's "The Mystery of Deatli " : 

"Perhaps, she hears me speak. Perchance, she felt 
your tears, as fast they fell. 
And, maybe, when you bent to kiss her cheek, slie 
knew it. Who can tell ? " 

From Dinali Muloch's *' Thou seemeth strangely lu^ar " : 

" What spirit is it that doth pervade the silence of this 

empty room ? 
And, as I lift mine eyes, ^vhat shade glides off and 

vanishes in gloom ? 
The living are so far away, but thou~i\\o\i seemest 

strangely near, 
Knowest all my silent heart would say, its peace, its 

pain, its hope, its fear." 



THE SPIRIT AYORLD. 71 

Necessarily, these quotations are but a few out of 
thousands, and I have given them place, more in the hope 
of inducing my readers to search for proofs of this uni- 
versal belief for themselves, than to convince them of what 
I say, by a few isolated specimens. But, having seen what 
the dead men and women have written about Spiritualism, 
let us come to the authorities of our own day — the names 
of workers still amongst us, the " up-to-date " opinions of 
people worthy of credence and attention. In the month of 
January, 1893, a correspondence took place in a newspaper 
called '^ The Morning," on the subject of Spiritualism, 
which was induced by a letter from the Eeverend Joseph 
Parker, of the City Temple, to Mr. W. Stead, editor of 
" The Eeview of Keviews." This was followed by several 
more letters, from each of which I shall only quote such 
passages as go to prove my own argument. Dr. Parker's 
communication was headed " An Open Letter/' and began 
thus : 

"My dear Mr. Stead — I thank you very warmly for calling my 
attention to your notes upon Spiritual Communication, which you 
have published in the Christmas number of your 'Review.' I am 
glad to be able to accept your statement without the faintest shadow 
of reserve as to its literal accuracy, because you have given me evi- 
dence, which makes scepticism impossible. * * * For myself, I 
have no difficulty in believing that all seances, all inquiries of the 
kind you indicate, all earnest endeavors to test the reality of the 
spiritual, represent so much groping after Ood Himself. ' God is a 
spirit.' If men were to give themselves, might and main, to an in- 
quiry concerning God, I should regard that inquiry as expressing the 
deepest interest in true Spiritualism * * * It seems to me that a 
congregation, properly regulated, ought to constitute the largest and 
most effective seance possible. * * * Of course, if congregations 
will not lift up their thoughts to this high level, they cannot expect 
to receive visions from God. If they have merely assembled pro- 
miscuously, to take only the interest of curiosity in what is going on, 
they will deprive themselves of all the richest advantages. * * * 



72 THE SPIRIT AVORLD. 

I cannot make light of the suggestion that inspiration is a present- 
day fact. / believe that men may now receive direct messages from 
God. From my point of view, inspiration neither began with the 
sacred Canon, nor closed with it. It is the very life of God in the 
universe. It is the voice of God to the human soul. * * * "We 
do not want a new Bible. We icant a new reading of tlie old Bible. 

* * * I have met with several Spiritualists, and have been struck 
by their personal earnestness. One or two of the godliest men I 
have ever known were simply infatuated by Spiritualism. Other 
men have been sober-minded, earnest, simple, and straightforward 
in all their supposed realizations of the higher forces. * * * In- 
spiration will come to different men in different ways. Holy men 
of old spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. They did not 
know what they were going to say. The prophets, probably, did not 
understand one tithe of what they littered. They were, literally, and 
in every deed, the medium through whom God spoke His word to the 
world. When the disciples were warned that they should be brought 
before judgment seats, Christ told them not to give any thought to 
the matter of their own defense, because he promised them that, in 
the same hour, it should be given them what they slwuld say. * -s*- * 
I thank you for all you have done in this matter of Spiritualism ; but 
I venture to submit to you that all you have done is but alphabetic 
and elementary, and that it ought to be no surprise to you, or to any 
one else, that communication beticeen the worlds is possible. The Bible 
has been teaching this during all the centuries of its existence. It is 
not a truth outside the Church, but inside the Church, and upon the 
vei-y center of the altar of the Church. The Church ought not to look 
upon Spiritualism, when the processes are honestly conducted, with 
any but a friendly eye, because the Church well knows that every 
step in that direction means advancement towards the sublime fact that 

* God is a spirit,' and that he is willing to communicate, every day, 
with the spirits of those who wait upon Him in faith and love." 



Now, so far, it will be seen that the sentiments of Dr. 
Parker and myself are synonymous. He has got at the 
true meaning and root of Spiritualism ; and, if he does not 
care to pursue it for the i)uri)ose of seeing his departed 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 73 

friends, it is, perhaps, because he has reached a higher 
phase of the matter, or, more likely, that he has never lost 
any one whom he particularly wants to see again. For I 
have made notes on this subject, and invariably found that, 
where indifference to the practice of Spiritualism exists, 
the person is either cold-blooded or has no one on the other 
side for whom he particularly cares. In Mr. ^Y. T. Stead's 
reply to Dr. Parker, he says : 

"I am a Spiritualist only in the sense in which every person who ac- 
cepts the Bible is a Spiritualist. I am simply an investigator. I am 
perfectly open to conviction, but I am also ready to recognize facts ; 
and, I hope, I am, at least, free from that superstition of unbelief , 
which is, really, much more dense and crass than the old kind of 
superstition, against which it makes war. * * * Spiritualism is 
inexplicable, except upon one hypothesis, which is, that the doctrine 
which finds its expression in almost every page of the Bible, is a true 
doctrine, and not a false one, viz. : that our bodies are not any essen- 
tial part of ourselves, but that the spirit is the real man, which is 
clothed with flesh for a certain period, during which it lives and 
moves upon the surface of the earth ; but it no more ceases to exist 
when the body is laid upon one side, than you cease to live, when 
you put off your overcoat. * * * For the present, my last word is 
this — that, before many months are over, I think, it will be admitted 
by every candid mind, that the persistence of the individual 
after death, and the possibility of communicating with that indi- 
vidual has been as well established on a scientific basis, as any other 
fact in nature. That, you may think, is a bold assertion. It is not 
an assertion; it is a prophecy, based upon facts within my own 
knowledge, and of which I speak with as much confidence as I do 
of anything which has come within my own personal observation." 



The Reverend Mr. Ilawies then advocates enquiry. He 



"The time has come when we may promptly abolish the word 
'supernatural,' and distinguish merely between the 'known' and the 
'unknown,' in Nature. Face to face with certain alleged phenomena 



THE SPIRIT AYORLD. 



m 



of an unintelligible character, repeated experience has, at last, placed 
one conclusion beyond dispute, viz. : That it is unsafe to denounce 
what it may be difficult to examine, but still more riskj^ not to exam- 
ine what we propose to denounce. The importance of ghosts, if they 
exist, and if they are what they profess to be, is quite incalculable. 
I think it possible that, by ascertaining the conditions under which 
communications may be had, and intelligently testing the means, an 
increase of human faculty may be acquired, and a new source of 
knowledge and power— perhaps a new world of spiritual attainment 
— opened up, which may raise our descendants, in the near future, «s 
much above us, in the scale of life, as we are above the cave men of 
the past, or the bush men of the present. * * * Can a ghost be 
photographed? The camera has no fancies — the sensitive plate is 
without imagination. There is some reason to think that abnormal 
photographs are not uncommon. Many photographers are in the 
habit of casting aside plates after partial development, because they 
have, what they call, a fault; that is, a blur or marks, obscuring or 
occupying portions of the plate. Photographers will, in future, per- 
haps, be more wary. I heard the other day of a young lady, who was 
photographed at Brighton, I believe, and twice the plate came out 
blurred. The second time, she persuaded the photographer, who was 
about to lay it aside, as useless, to develop it. The blurs, on being 
examined with a magnifier, proved to be faces— all the same face. 
She at once recognized it as the face of a rejected lover, who had 
died. Again, some young men were photographing a river scene in 
the open air. The plate, when developed, showed a human body 
floating on the surface, which had certainly escaped the photogra- 
pher's attention, if it was visible, but the young men were persuaded 
that nothing of the sort was there. INIy friend. General Taylor, sup- 
plied me with an interesting photograph taken of a brother officer 
of his, who visited, incog., a jihotographer, when the form of his 
brother, eight years dead, came out on the plate. He had but one 
plate of his brother, locked away in his trunk at home. I have had 
tijc opportunity of comparing the i)hoto from the life with that of 
the dead, and the likeness is clearly recognizable, though the ex- 
pression of the ghost's face is painful. * * * I want to plead, 
without dogmatism, or bigotry, for sustained and careful enquiry, 
until we have secured the facts, upon which we can, alone, be entitled 
to reason. I should like to ask, seriously, whether, even now, we 
have, or have not, secured those facts. The time for this question has 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 75 

plainly come. The whole press is in a fever about it. Society is rid- 
dled through and through with Occultism. Orthodox science itself is 
beginning to tremUe and 'vacillate in the old arm-chair of its old- 
fashioned dogmatism, and seems forced to admit, reluctantly, that 
these hundreds of men, distinguished in philosophy, chemistry, 
psychology, medicine, literature and art — even comprising those who 
have given in their adhesion to quantities of abnormal phenomena — 
cannot all befools and liars. But worse for unbelievers remains be- 
hind. It seems now that, without resorting to some hypothesis of 
unexplained forces, directed by unknown laws, and producing in- 
calculable phenomena, scientific discovery itself is likely to be ham- 
pered; all which things are, to me, hopeful signs of the times, and, 1 
should think, must greatly embolden those who believe, as I do, in the 
infinite, and, as yet, unexplored resources of nature and human na- 
ture, to speak out that which they do know, and testify to the things 
which their eyes have seen. * * * Nothing contained in either the 
facts, or the speculations here put forward, is in conflict with the real 
teaching of Jesus Christ. And, let me further add, for the comfort 
of the weak-kneed and sincerely alarmed, that nothing which the 
Almighty has permitted to be true in the world of physical phe- 
nomena can possibly be unlawful to know, or be opposed to religion, 
or at variance with any other kind of truth, physical or spiritual, 
sacred or profane." 



These are the opinions and convictions of three of the 
cleverest men of the day. I suppose that, search as yon 
may, you would hardly find three more powerful brains 
than those of Dr. Parker, Mr. Stead and Mr. Hawies. 
They ought to be sufficient to make the whole world de- 
sirous to prove that which they testify to to be the truth. 
But they were but the leaders to a chorus of similar testi- 
monials. 

A man, signing himself "Mejnour,^" writes: 

" Of the real occurrence of the phenomena in question, I have not, 
for many years, been able to entertain a doubt, and believe that no 
sensible person, who will patiently and privately investigate, under 



76 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

crucial tests, can do aught else, but admit their actual occur- 
rence."' * * * 

This is followed by the testimony of Mr. W. H. Ed- 
wards, of 238 Southampton Street, S. E.^ who writes: 

" As a rule. Spiritualists, before becoming convinced, are sceptical, 
but the facts are too many for them, and they simply act as intelli- 
gent men and women in accepting the theory in the absence of any- 
thing better. Spiritualism has, undoubtedly, existed in all ages and 
countries. The great difficulty really hes with the clergy, since the 
teaching of the spirits is vastly different from that of the Church. 
Mr. Maskelyne is under a great delusion if he thinks that Spiritual- 
ism is dying out. The difference is, people do not go about pro- 
claiming their views; because to do so, is to run the risk of being 
socially ostracized. It is not really worth while to incur all the 
odium the admission of being a Spiritualist brings in its train. What 
with the devoutly religious on the one hand, and the hard-headed 
materialist on the other, the Spiritualist has a fine time of it, and is 
cordially detested by both." * * * 

I do not agree with Mr. Edwards that, to confess one's 
self a Sj^iritualist, is to be " socially ostracized.'' Some- 
times I have wished it would have done that kind office 
for me ! But the anxiety to enquire and learn its wonders 
seems growing daily, until one's time is no longer one's 
own, and one is obliged to appear unwilling to help, be- 
cause the continual demands interfere with one's daily 
work. But, as for the " devoutly religious," and the " hard- 
headed materialist," I have never let either the one, or the 
other, interfere with my belief, or open avowal of it. I 
consider I have as much right to hold my opinions as they 
have to hold theirs. When I first became convinced of the 
truth of Spiritualism, I was younger than I am now ; more 
entliusiastic, and with more faith in my fellow-creatures. 
So I used to try to convince them, also, of what had made 
my life happier, but I have given it up, long ago. I never 
try to make a convert now. It is too much trouble. My 



THE SPIEIT AVORLD. 77 

sole aim is to bring a little comfort home to those who are 
sorrowing for the loss of some beloved friend, and, thank 
God, in that I have succeeded. As for the rest — the scep- 
tics, the scandalized, and the fools — I leave them to find out 
the truth for themselves. They must do it before long. 
When my kind, old confessor, Father George Oldham, of 
St. Mary Magdelene's Church, at Brighton, came back and 
blessed me, just after the Catholic papers had been spitting 
all the venom their Christianity had taught them at me 
for publishing "There is no Death,^^ I said to him : ''Yoio 
don't blame me, then, Father, as the rest do ? *' And his 
answer was : " My child ! every spirit must needs be a 
Spiritualist ! " About two years ago, I was sitting in a 
London drawing-room, imbibing the usual lukewarm tea 
amongst the usual lukewarm acquaintances. The conver- 
sation turned upon the subject of my book, when a creature 
present (I won't call him a gentleman), politely observed 
that Spiritualism was all " rot,'' and he did not believe a word 
of it. I looked at him. He was an officer — fat and puffy in 
the face like a tom-cat, and with about as much expression, 
and lolling in an arm-chair, as much as to say: " I give you 
all leave to admire me, and see what a fine fellow I am.'^ 
My hostess remarked that, considering I was present, she 
did not consider the opinion he had expressed a very polite 
one, upon which, seeing he had gone a little too far, and 
wishing, I conclude, to soothe my lacerated feelings, he 
turned himself round towards me and said, in a voice as if 
his mouth was full of plums : " Well, convert me, then, 
convert me ! " I regarded him for a moment before I an- 
swered : " My dear sir ! do you imagine it can make the 
slightest difference to me what you believe, or do not be- 
lieve — where you will go when you die, or where you will 
not go. You appear to think yourself and your future of 
a great deal of consequence ; but, I assure you, it does not 



78 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

interest me in the slightest degree.'' He looked rather con- 
fused, but asked : " Why do you preach it, then ? '' " For 
those who need comfort/' I replied. ** You are evidently so 
well-pleased with j^ourself, that you cannot possibly want 
any.'^ I give this advice to Mr. Edwards, and all whom it 
may concern : Keep your Spiritualism for your own use 
and pleasure, and don't be too lavish of it to other people. 
They will probably only abuse you for your pains. But, if 
you appear perfectly indifferent on the subject, they will 
probably pester you for information. It is the way of the 
world. 

Mr. Russell Davis wrote thus to " The Morning " : 
" As for the statement that Spirituahsm is dying out, Mr. Maske- 
lyne must admit that the Spiritualists themselves are, or ought to be, 
the best judges as to this, and I, for one, beg respectfully to contra- 
dict his assertion. I have no hesitation in saying that Mr. Maskelyne 
is absolutely ignorant of the question. For eighteen years I have 
been living in London, and during the whole of that period have 
been using my clairvoyant gifts as a medium (privately), and, at this 
moment, can positively declare that the belief in Spiritualism has not 
merely steadily increased, but is making enormous strides, and it is 
this fact, which has now placed the matter before the public, who 
are at last bound to admit that there ' must be something in it after 
all.' Twenty years ago, the proper thing to say, when Spiritualism 
was mentioned, was: 'Oh, ah, Spiritualists, indeed! They are 
either rogues or fools — the cheaters and the cheated.' Now it is: 
'Oh dear, dear! there is no doubt these things you mention take 
place, but it is all the work of the devil, and will ruin you, body and 
soul ; so pray have nothing more to do with it.' After twenty-five 
years' experience, I am happy to say, I am ruined in neither body 
nor soul. * * * I can prove, beyond doubt, that Spiritualism is 
not only rapidly on the increase, but that it has penetrated into high 
places, and into the very heart of our greatest seats of learning. The 
truth has forced itself into the minds and lives of some of our great- 
est men and women, and this, in spite of continuous opposition from 
all sides, and in the face of the clergy of all denominations, who, 
long ago, perceived that, when once the people began to think for 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 79 

themselves, and went to the true source of spiritual light to learn 
for themselves, the power of the Church would be gone forever, 
New Spiritualism, indeed! old Spiritualism and new Theology, that's 
the real thing ! For Spiritualism has existed from the beginning, and 
the truth will out. Let us now have fair play, and I prophesy that, 
as soon as the public realize there is something in it, Spiritualism 
will, even more rapidly than at present, make way." 



Another correspondent, who signs himself A. V. B., 
writes thus : 

" My own experience is that, never since the phenomena of modern 
Spiritualism attracted the attention of the people, have there been so 
many intelligent and earnest enquirers as to its truth as there are at 
the present time. I quite agree with Dr. Parker that the aims of 
Spiritualism should be of the highest possible character ; but I am 
not at one with him when he decries the phenomenal aspect of the 
subject, nor am I at one with him when he asserts 'that all en- 
deavors that are made to realize the spiritual world are endeavors 
which cannot end, in themselves, with any real advantage to any- 
body,' It appears to me that, if the phenomena which occur in the 
seance room can be proved to originate from the spirit side of life, 
then these phenomena are, or should be, of the most vital importance 
to the religions of the country ; and, if of importance to the religions 
of the country, they should surely be worthy of the utmost interest 
and attention of the exponents of those religions. I am perfectly 
ready to admit that Spiritualism is not a religion, but a science ; but, 
if the religious teachers of the people persistently ignore a subject | 
which so nearly affects their teachings, then they must not be sur- < 
prised if the people investigate for themselves. * * * If it is a 
fact, as I assert it is, that we, who are. at present, in the material 
state, are, now, as far as we are spiritually concerned, in association 
with spirits, whose attributes are akin to our own, and whose love 
and aspirations are of a like character, then this should point to the 
fact that the character of the phenomena produced in the seance 
room will be guided by the character of the people forming the 
circle," 



80 THE SPIRIT AVORLD. 

The Reverend Dr. John Pulsford says : 

" I have read what Mr. Stead has written in his ' Review of 
Reviews, ' and I feel that what he has recorded of his personal ex- 
perience is a most transparently simple and ingenuous statement. It 
left no doubt on my own mind that what is described there actually 
did occur, as represented ; and, indeed, I cannot conceive of any one 
inventing such a story. I said to Mrs. Parker, after I had read the 
statement, that, if the ultimatum of Christianity is to be absolute 
unity between Heaven and earth, there must be some law of that 
unity ; and what is so likely to be a law of the unity as communication 
between spirits departed and persons limng in this woi'ldf * * * 
Relatives of mine in America lately said, as to what transpired at 
seances at which they were present, that, although a low order of 
spirits did often descend upon them, and make commuDications of a 
less important description, yet, for all the tcorld, they would not have 
missed being present, as some of the communications were, un- 
doubtedly, from departed spirits with whom they had been ac- 
quainted. -5^ * * The transtiguration of Christ was, really, a 
Spiritualistic seance of a very high order ; and, if we denied the uses 
of Spiritualism in this age, we should be led too far, for we should 
be induced to treat with scorn all the instances in the Scriptures in 
which, we are told, communication did take place between spirits 
and persons in the flesh. At the same time, whoever commits him- 
self (or commit themselves) to anything like a seance for purposes of 
spiritual investigation, should be in a very prayerful, watchful con- 
dition; and, if they don't go up, themselves, into an elevated, 
spiritual state, they only open the door to the low class of deceiving 
spirits. Spirits immediately on the borders of our earth, it must be 
remembered, cannot ascend. They are spirits who have departed in 
so earthly a condition that they are constantly seeking some access 
to the earth, and are delighted at an opportunity of being able to use 
the bodies of persons in this world." 



Several corresi)ondents lessened tlie value of their testi- 
mony by not givin(( their full names. I never could 
understand tliis want of courage in press correspondence. 
If you are ashamed of doing a thing, I say, don't do it. 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 81 

However, there may be professional reasons for certain people 
concealing their names, although I believe that honesty is 
always the best policy, whatever it may bring on us to bear 
in its cause. J. C. D. Avrites : 

"Previous to the year 1884, I was a member of the Secular Union 
of Freethinkers, and still hold with them in my abhorrence of 
dogma and a love of humanity ; but, after diligent and earnest in- 
vestigation, aroused by a lecture, delivered by Dr. Nichols, on 
"Ghosts I have Seen," I v^as obliged, hy conmction, io renounce 
'promulgating purely materialisUc mews. * * * i am a simple 
mechanic, but rejoice to know tbat man's aspirations are not to be 
annihilated by death, and that unseen help is often at hand, when 
practicable, by contrivance, suggestion and foresight, direct and in- 
direct, on the part of the dear ones gone before." 



The following is from Mr. J. T. Andy, Winchester Hall, 
Peckham : 

"Mr. Maskelyne may say that he is convinced that all the so- 
called manifestations are fraudulent, and that be ' looks upon 
Spiritualism as dying.' I would ask him, if he classes the records of 
manifestations in the Bible in the same category ? Assertions and 
denunciations are easily made, but what of the mass of evidence at 
hand regarding phenomena, vouched for by men of integrity ? This 
wholesale sweeping away of truthful witnesses is contemptible, and 
used to put off iiivestigators, and is an old advertising dodge ; but it 
does not destroy facts. I have been an eye-witness to many re- 
markable things. There are thousands willing to testify to the 
reality of spirit communion." * * * 

Of course, / was not left out of this wordy war ; but I 
have kept the few remarks I had to make about it to the 
last, as I have said almost all I have to say already. 

"I can quite understand that it would not pay him (Mr. Maske- 

' lyne) to be a Spiritualist: and that he would rather not believe in it. 

It would spoil half his business, which is conducted on the principle 



82 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

of an exposure of Spiritualism. But, when lie asserts that 'the 
thing is rapidly dying — let it die, ' he states wJiat is utterly untrue. 
NeTer has Spii'itualism been so largely disseminated, and so firmly 
believed in and practiced as at the present moment, and that not 
among the illiterate and lower classes, but amoDg the aristocracy of 
England. Let me assure him that it is not dying, that it is not even 
sick from the blows that he and Mr. Stuart Cumberland try to give 
it, but that there are more Spiritualists in London, to-day, than there 
ever were before, and their number is daily increasing. Dr. Parker 
writes very 1 eniently of the whole business, as such a learned and deeply 
thinking man would do ; but he has not dissected the matter as much 
as he might have done. He asks what good has Spiritualism ever 
done, and what good is it to receive a message from a dead uncle or 
aunt ? It has done this good, Dr. Parker : It has done what the 
Church has failed, in many instances, to do. It has convinced men 
that there is an after-life. Can you say, honestly, that the teachings 
of the Church and the reading of the Bible have been able to prevent 
an enormous amount of atheism and infidelity in the present day? The 
world teems with it. Was there ever a time when men and women 
believed less and attended church less ? You are quite right in say- 
ing we need a new reading of the Bible. Half the people who pro- 
fess a belief in the authenticity of the Bible do not know, and have 
never cared to study, what its simplest texts mean. Does the Bible 
keep men in the right path— the majority of men, I mean ? Has the 
Church the power to keep them from becoming renegades ? Have 
her preachers the power to convince them that there is a future life; 
or, having convinced them, to make them idealize it ? There are no 
renegades in Spiritualism. A Spiritualist who has once been con- 
vinced that he has seen the dead, never lets go of his belief in another 
life. We are called fatuous and fanatical, simply because our belief 
is 80 firm. I know numbers of men who believe in Spiritualism who 
never believed in the Church, nor the Bible, till the spirits taught 
them to do so. It is true that a harmonious congregation should 
form one vast seance ; but when do you find them harmonious ? Do 
they not assemble, each one occupied with his, or her, own interests, 
and, as a rule, come away without an idea of what they have been 
listening to ? A very different sort of assembly, from the breathless 
interest with which the sitters at a seance — not silly women and 
children only, remember ; but men of science, and ability, and learo 
ing — await the coming of their departed friends. Spiritualism is a 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 83 

revival, and a revival that is but in its infancy. It will not hurt the 
Church. It will drive its votaries within her walls. It has been 
permitted, in this age of scoffing and unbelief and scepticism, in 
order io force men to think and enquire for themselves whether there 
w another life or Twt. And, I believe, it will go on and grow and in- 
crease in power, until, as the learned doctor says, ' men receive direct 
messages from God.' I admire the courage of Mr. Stead, and, I 
believe, it will result, as every honest endeavor does, in great good 
to himself. It is of very little consequence what one or two indi- 
viduals think of the matter ; it has come for the mass. It is what 
the mass wants — direct revelation of the existence of those whom 
they thought they had lost. God is love, and man cannot live with- 
out love ; and, to convince him that his love has not been wasted, 
but that those who evolved it are living and waiting for him on the 
other side, is to urge him on to find the best'means by which he 
shall join them there. And so Spiritualism plays into the hands of 
the Church, by sending those she has convinced of the truth of 
another life to the Church — to find the God "Who shall reunite them 
with those they have lost." 



It will be seen, from the foregoing remarks, that my 
opinion has not changed during all the time I have been a 
Spiritualist; rather, it has been strengthened with the pass- 
ing years. As I wrote, I have never known any one who 
believed in Spiritualism go back from it ; it is impossible 
to go back from the evidence of all one's senses. How 
wonderfully Spiritualism runs through music. Half the 
composers are inspired men ; half the music they give to 
the world bears the impress upon it of their belief in this 
great "truth. Have you heard Sir Arthur Sullivan's " The 
Distant Shore," "The Mother's Dream," and "0 Fair 
Dove ! Fond Dove ! " ; Cire Pinsuti's " In Shadow 
Land " and " The Land of Love " ; Franz Abt "s " Spirits 
,and Angels," and Virginia Gabriel's "When the Pale 
fMoon Arose, Last Night " ? These, amidst hundreds of 
other songs, published daily, will show you how the com- 



84 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

posers love to touch the tender strings of Spiritualism 
when they sing. Even in the pages of "The Youth's 
Companion/' I came across, the other day, such sweet and 
true verses by Zitella Cocke, that I cannot forbear quoting 
them here. They are called "A Ministering Spirit'' : 

" When I was dead one year, I came unto mine own — it 

was so sweet 
To see their faces, and to hear the voices that I could 

not greet : 
Within the old, familiar home, they talked and laughed 

with youthful zest — 
Brave brothers and fair sisters dear, nor little dreamed 

who was their guest. 

They measured out the morrow's plans, and counted 

joys that filled to-day, 
Their eager eyes sought present good — I was a being 

passed away ; 
The world was with them, and did lure, with throng of 

happy, living things ; 
They could not feel my spirit touch, nor hear the rustle 

of my wings. 

And all went forth, save one, alone, who, to the window 

casement stole. 
Where erst we two were wont to .sit, and in the anguish 

of her soul 
Wept long and sore, with trembling hands upon her 

tear-washed face, and cried : 
'God pity me, this woeful day ! this was the day my 

brother died.' 

Then, with a spirit's subtle ken, God-given, did I 
minister 

Sweet comfort ; such as God gave me, unmeasured, 
gave I unto her. 

Till, sad with pleasure's surfeit, they who went, return- 
ing, found no trace 

Of woe in her, and whispered, low : ' Site tcears God's 
(jhyry on her face.' " 



85 



CHAPTER V. 

MISS marryat's bogus bogey. 

On the 14th of December, 1893, there appeared an arti- 
cle in " Tri>th/' under the heading of '^ Scrutator," under the 
above title, which made every one, who knew anything 
about me, very indignant — not because it attempted to 
throw" doubt upon my honesty with regard to the state- 
ments made in my book "There is no Death," and to 
prove that I must be a self-deluded fool — but, because it 
very seriously libeled me ivith reference to my domestic 
relations, with which it had no more concern than I have 
with the domestic relations of the editor of " Truth." My 
friends were most anxious that I should take up the mat- 
ter publicly and make the article the subject of a news- 
paper quarrel — my solicitor declared it to be libelous — and, 
I think, some people were rather disappointed that I took 
it so quietly, and preferred to abide my time and refute its 
statements in print that should last longer than that of a 
weekly paper. This is what I now propose to do, though 
very unwillingly. It is a subject I would much rather have 
1 left to die a natural death. The boy to whom it refers is 
1 dead, and cannot speak (at least in the opinion of Mr. 
I Davis and his ally " Scrutator ") for himself — and of the 
dead, they say, let nothing but good be spoken; but, if 
silence is to be preserved at the expense of the character 
of the living, it becomes a crime against one's self, and the 
cause for which one fights. So I will quote another proverb 
instead, and say that " A living dog is better than a dead 
I lion," and so, for the sake of Spiritualism and my honor, I 



SQ THE SPIKIT WORLD. 

will state the truth of Francis Lean's life here. There are 
members of his family who should have answered this article, 
and denied many of its statements — members, who know 
well how much I did for the dead boy, and in what man- 
ner he requited the kindnesses shown to him by most peo- 
ple — but they have not had the pluck, nor the gratitude 
to do it, and so have only themselves to thank, if I plead 
for myself. In order to do, however, what I propose, it ' 
becomes necessary for me to reprint the whole article m 
extenso, lest I should be accused of leaving out parts, in 
order to suit my own purpose. I must premise that the 
italics are mine. 

"About two years ago, under the title 'There is no 
Death/ Miss Florence Marryat presented to the public a 
highly edifying record of experiences of the spirit world. 
As it was dealt with by my reviewer at the time, it is un- 
necessary for me to make, now, any general remarks upon 
this book, though I may observe, in passing, that it strikes 
me as one of the most painful records of combined impos- 
ture and self-deception to be found in this class of liter- 
ature." 

Now, before I go any further, I should like to ask Scru- 
tator, lohy my book strikes him as one of the most painful 
records to be found in Spiritualistic literature. Has he 
ever read any other books on the same subject ? Has he 
read Alan Kardec, Colonel Olcott, Eobert Dale Owen, or 
John Wesley ? Have they not all narrated experiences 
of Spiritualism, which are quite as startling as mine? 
In my own book I have given several names of men of 
science and learning who investigated with me and saw 
the same things. Are tliey all fools and lunatics, includ- 
ing my fatlier. Captain Marryat, tlie latchet of whose 
shoe (mentally speaking) Scrutator is not worthy to un- 
loose ? Or, is he cleverer than the whole lot put together? 



THE SPIKIT WOKLD. 87 

Doubtless, he thinks so ; but he will have to make his title 
good before the world follows his example. I lay my 
claim for attention far more on the reputation of the 
pioneers who have gone before me, than on my own simple 
relation of facts which have come within my cognizance. 

But, to return to Scrutator. 

" It is sufficient, for the present purpose, to say that the 
book contains reports of Miss Marryat's alleged interviews 
with a large number of departed spirits, under the auspices 
of various professional mediums. Quite recently, however, 
I have come into possession of evidence which seems to 
make certain passages of the book worthy of further 
notice, not merely on account of the light which the 
evidence throws on Miss Marryat's remarkable personal 
experiences, but for the sake of its bearing upon Occult 
phenomena generally. The passages to which I refer, 
recount supposed apparitions to Miss Marryat of her step- 
son, Mr. Francis- Lean, at the time of, and subsequently to, 
his being drowned off the coast of Peru. The evidence, 
with which I am now able to supplement Miss Marryat's 
narrative, comes up in the following way : A shipmate of 
Mr. Lean^s, who was an intimate friend of the lad, and 
cognizant of the exact facts in regard to his death, acci- 
dentally came across Miss Marryat's book, a few months 
ago, and being struck — as well he might be — with certain 
statements, and still more certain suggestions made hy the 
writer, and by the supposed ghost, drew up, on his next 
visit to England, a statement in regard to the circumstances, 
which he forwarded to me. The name of this gentleman 
is Frederick John Davis, a lieutenant in the Royal Naval 
Reserve, and he is prepared, if necessary, to verify Ms nar- 
rative ly a declaration on oath. To make the story intel- 
ligible, however, it is necessary to give Miss Marryat's 
statement first. The first allusion to Mr. Lean's death, is at 



»8 THE SPIRIT AVOKLD. 

pp. 48-9 of the book. Miss Marryat there described how, 
in July, 1880, she went down to Brighton by herself to 
complete some literary work. She says : ' I used to 
write all day, and walk in the evening. It was light then 
till eight or nine o'clock, and the Esplanade nsed to be 
crowded till a late hour. I was pushing my way, on the 
evening of July the 9th, through the crowd, thinking of 
my work more than anything else, when I saw (as I fully 
thought) my stepson, Francis Lean, leaning with his back 
against the palings, at the edge of the cliff, and smiling at 
me/' '' 

Now will my readers please to observe, at this juncture, 
that I mention no time icliatever, as the hour of my seeing 
the lad, as, indeed, I could not have done, as I had been out 
for some time and did not know the exact hour. 

" ^He was a handsome lad of eighteen, who was supposed 
to have sailed in his ship for the Brazils five months before. 
But, he had been a wild young fellow, causing his father 
much trouble and anxiety, and my first impression was one 
of great annoyance ; thinking, naturally, that since I saw 
him there, he had never sailed at all, but run away from 
his ship at the last moment. I hastened up to him, there- 
fore, but, as I reached his side, he turned round quite 
methodically and walked down a fiiglit of steps that led 
to the beach. I followed him, and found myself among a 
group of ordinary seamen mending their nets, but I could 
see Francis nowliere. I did not know what to make of the 
occurrence, but it never struck me that it was not the lad 
liimself, or some one remarkably like him. The same night, 
however, after I had retired to bed, in a room that was vn- 
pleamntJy hriUiant, frith the moonlight dreami7i(j in at the 
frnidfrtr, T was roused from my sleep by some one turning 
the handle of my door, and there stood P'rancis, in his naval 
luiifonii. \\ itii tlio peaked caj) in his hand, smiling at me 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 89 

as he had done upon the cliff. I started up in bed, intend- 
ing to speak to him, when he laid his finger on his lip and 
faded away. This second vision made me think something 
must have happened to the boy, but I determined not to 
say anything to my husband about it till it was verified. 
Shortly after my return to London, we were going, in com- 
pany with my son (also a sailor), to see his ship, which was 
lying in the docks, when, as we were driving through Pop- 
lar, I again saw my stepson, Francis, standing on the pave- 
ment and smiling at me. That time I spoke. I said to 
Colonel Lean : " I am sure I saw Francis standing there. 
Do you think it is possible he may not have sailed after 
all?"' But Colonel Lean laughed at the idea. * * * 
We visited the seaside after that, and, in September, whilst 
we were staying at Folkestone, Colonel Lean received a let- 
ter to say that his son Francis had been drowned by the 
upsetting of a boat in the surf of the Bay of Callao, in the 
Brazils (sic), on the 9th of July * * * the day I had 
seen him twice in Brighton, two months hefore we heard 
that he ivas gone.' The reader will note here, that either 
Miss Marryat is a singularly inaccurate historian, or her 
knowledge of geography is wofully deficient, it being, I 
should have thought, a matter of universal knowledge that 
I Callao is not in ' the Brazils,' but on the coast of Peru, on 
i the other side of the Continent, and distant from the Bra- 
< zilian coast as far as the Bay of Biscay from the Persian 
! Gulf. That, however, is a mere detail." 

Scrutator thought he had got me nicely there — that I 
should be terribly ashamed either of confessing to inaccuracy 
(which is correct) or to deficient geography. But he is 
mistaken. I acknowledge that, in so carelessly writing of 
Callao in the Brazils, I showed as little knowledge of my 
subject as he does in writing of Spiritualism. Perhaps, if 
iwe were submitted to a catechism on the subjects, he might 



90 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

be found the more ignorant of the two. But my want 
of knowledge of geograj^hy has nothing to do with the fact 
of my having seen, or not seen, the spirit of Francis Lean. 

^'^The next mention of Mr. Lean is at pp. 133, in a de- 
scription of the various marvels wrought by a medium 
named Colman, who ^ materialized ' this poor youth, and 
thus enabled him to communicate to Miss Marryat and, 
apparently, to Colonel Lean, also, ' the circumstances of his 
death and the events leading to it,^ matters previously un- 
known to them." 

Scrutator speaks of 7ny inaccuracy. Let me point out 
his. There is no mention in " There is no Death " of 
Francis Lean being " materialized " through Mr. Colman» 
It is whilst writing of his trance-mediumship that I mention 
Francis^ name. I say, in speaking of him : " He had a peculiar 
manner, also — quick and nervous — and a way of cutting 
his words short, which his spirit preserves to the smallest 
particular, and which furnish the strongest proofs possible 
of his identity to those who knew him here below." The 
relevance of this quotation will be perceived further on in 
my chapter. 

" It is much to be regretted," resumes Scrutator, " that 
Miss Marryat omits to state what were the circumstances 
narrated in this instance ; for, as I shall presently show, 
when tlie materialized phantom of Mr. Lean made state- 
ments on tlie same subject under the auspices of another 
medium, their accuracy leaves much to be desired. Passing 
over another highly instructive passage, in which the de- 
(X'ased lad is described by the spirit of his still-born sister, 
as ^ chevying ' her round a fountain, we next come across 
Francis Lean at 2)p. ^-11, under the mediumship of a 
worthy who is only alluded to as the * doctor.^ As this pas- 
sage contains the sui)posed sliade's account of the circum- 
stances of his deatli, it is necessary to quote it in full : ^ As 



THE SPIKIT AYOKLD. 91 

she left us, a dark figure advanced into the room and ejacu- 
lated "Ma ! ma I'' I recognized, at once, the peculiar in- 
tonation mid mode of address of my stepson, Francis Lean, 
with whom, since he had announced his own death to me, 
I had had no communication except through trance-medium- 
ship. ' " 

What about the materialization through Arthur 
Colman ? 

" ' Is that you, my poor boy ? ' I said. ' Come closer to me I 
You are not afraid of me, are you ? ' (Why on earth should 
he be afraid of her ? Is it usual for ghosts to be afraid of 
human beings ? Ed. Truth. )^^ 

Now, this question alone proves that the man who wrote 
this article has never done more than skim through my 
book, if he has done that, or he would have no need to put 
it. And, yet, he presumes to criticise it. 

" ^ 0, no, ma, of course not; only I was at the Opera House, 
you know, with the others, and that piece you recited — you 
know the one — it^s all true, ma, and I don't want you to 
go back to England. Stay here, ma, stay here ! ' I 
knew perfectly well to what the lad alluded, but I would 
not enter upon it before a stranger. So I only said : ^ You 
forget my children, Francis ; what would they say if I 
never went home again ? ' This seemed to puzzle him ; 
but, after a while, he answered : ' Then go to them, ma ; 
go to them.' All this time he had been talking in the 
dark, and I only knew him by the sound of his voice. I 
said : ^ Are you not going to show yourself to me, Francis ? 
It is such a long time since we met.' ' Never, since you 
saw me at the docks. That was me, ma, and at Brighton, 
too, only you didn't half believe it till you knew I was 
gone.' ' Tell me the truth of the accident, Francis,' I 
asked him. 'Was there foul play?' 'No,' he replied; 
* but we got quarreling about her, you know, and fighting. 



92 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

and that's how the boat upset. It was my fault as much as 
anybody else's." '' 

Now, before I go any further, I wish to observe that 
*' Ma '*' was Francis Lean's usual way of addressing me, 
greatly to my annoyance. It sounded so vulgar and com- 
mon. He was not overgifted Avith brains, poor lad ! indeed, 
he was singularly deficient in them, and his " bleating " 
after me in the way he did, used to give me the horrors. 
I was not alone in this particular. It annoyed his father 
quite as much as it did me. Scrutator is very ready (as 
will be seen further on) to accept every word that Mr. 
Davis said upon the subject as gospel, simply because he 
took his side against Spiritualism. The testimony of a 
perfect stranger to himself and to the Lean family is taken 
before anything the members of the lad's family might say. 
Mr. Davis affirms he was an intimate friend of young 
Lean's for two years before his death. That may be ; but 
he certainly was not a friend of the family's, nor had he ever 
been admitted within the doors of the house, as far as the 
mistress of it knows. Anyway, if Mr. Davis knew nothing 
of the "her" alluded to in the last paragraph, nor of the 
circumstances which took place just before Francis Lean 
shipped in the " Stuart," it proves there was something 
left for even his most intimate friend to learn. 

"'IIow was it your body was never found?' 'It was 
dragged down in an undercurrent, ma. It was out at Cape 
Horn ])efore tlteg offered a reivard for it.' Then he began 
to light up, and as soon as the figure was illuminated, I saw 
that tlie boy was dressed in 'jumper,' a 'Jersey' of dark 
woolen material, such as they wear in the merchant service 
in liot climates, but over it all, his head and shoulders in- 
cluded, was wound a quantity of the flowing white material 
r have before mentioned. ' I can't bear this stuff, it makes 
mo look like a girl,' said Francis, and with his hands he 



THE SPIKIT WORLD. 93 

tore it off. Simultaneously, the illumination ceased, and he 
was gone. I called him by name several times, but no 
sound came out of the darkness. It seemed as though the 
veiling which he disliked j)reserved his materialization,, 
and that, with its protection removed, he had dissolved 
again." The lad is subsequently materialized once more 
through the agency of a medium called Virginia Roberts ; 
this time minus the flimsy white veiling, in consequence 
of which he did not, on that occasioai, look like a girl ; but 
he made no disclosures of importance.'^ 

Now, to criticise this criticism as it goes, it will be 
observed that Scrutator, whilst alluding to the reappear- 
ances of Francis Lean, as the ^' alleged '' interview, the 
" supposed '' apparition, and the " supposed '' ghost, does 
not mention the fact that when he appeared with the 
"doctor,'' I was accompanied by Mrs. Isabella Beecher 
Hooker, the sister of Henry Ward Beecher, and when witli 
Virginia Eoberts, in a private sitting room in an hotel, by 

Mrs. Palmer Stern, spoken of as Mrs. S , both of whom 

saw the " supposed " apparition as distinctly as myself. 
On these latter occasions, therefore, I can hardly be said to 
have been imposed upon, or self-deceived. 

To proceed. "So much for Miss Marryat. Now for 
Mr. Davis. He begins by stating that he is a master 
mariner, and that, in July, 1880, he was first mate of the 
British bark ^ Stuart,' on which Francis Lean was serv- 
ing as an apprentice. The captain's name was Bradshaw, 
and the second officer was Mr. F. Kerr, who had been in 
the ship two years, and was an intimate friend of Mr. 
Lean. The war between Chili and Peru was, at this time^ 
in progress, and on July 9th the 'Stuart' was lying off 
Chorillos, a small port south of Callao, waiting for a 
suspension of hostilities in order to discharge her cargo at 
Callao, which was at this time blockaded. The first part of 



94 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

Mr. Davis' statement I desire, as far as possible, to pass 
over, because it touches on matters of family history, of a 
delicate nature; but I feel bound to mention that Mr. 
Davis says, on the strength of two years' acquaintance with 
Francis Lean on board the 'Stuart/ that the sentiments 
entertained by the young man towards his stepmother 
2vere the reverse of Jcinclly. In fact, from specific speeches, 
lohich he quotes, it is clear that if, after his decease, Mr. 
Lean visited his stepmother in a smiling and aimable mood, 
and addressed her in the affectionate terms above quoted, 
he must, indeed, have ''suffered a sea change,' after the 
catastrophe of July 9th. Mr. Davis flatly refuses to believe 
in the possibility of Ms addressing Miss Marryat either in 
the flesh or the spirit, as 'ma,' or 'mother,' or by any 
term of endearment,'^ 

Here lies the most difficult part of my own justification ; 
for I cannot possibly clear my name from these insolent 
charges, made by a person ivho had never met me, without 
reflecting on the character of Francis Lean ; but there is no 
other way out of it. I must prove that Mr. Davis has 
either wilfully lied about his intimate friend, or that that 
friend was unworthy of the name. This master mariner, 
who has never been introduced to me, nor admitted to my 
house, '' flatly refuses to believe " what every member of 
Francis Lean's family could assure him was the truth. 
Francis Lean had very good reason to address me affec- 
tionately ; for, had it not been for my intercession, he would 
never have been readmitted to his fatlier's house. Before 
I was married with Colonel Lean, his son had robbed him 
to such an extent that he banished him from home, and 
only allowed him to re-enter it on condition he was at once 
sent to sea. There was such a terrible disturbance between 
father and son on that occasion that the boy ran away from 
home and was not traced for some time afterwards. When 



\ 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 95 

I begged that he might be readmitted, I was informed that, 
in that case, his people would not be answerable for any- 
thing that might be stolen from the premises. His con- 
duct, during the short time he remained with us, was a 
constant source of anxiety, as some fresh story of miscon- 
duct was brought to his father^s notice almost daily. Under 
such difficulties, I was always Francis' great resource. 
Everybody, who knew him at that time, knew how he would 
hang round my neck and wheedle me out of money, or 
whatever he might require. Considering that I had 
married a major on half -pay, with eight children, it would 
not need much perspicuity, on the part of the public, to 
guess from whom the butter that spread the bread came. 
I cannot remember ever having given Francis Lean an 
unkind word ; but I can remember being often rebuked by 
his father for allowing him to get over me by soft sawder, 
that, if Mr. Davis' word is to be relied upon, was all lies. 
Since Mr. Davis was such a dear friend of his, he may, 
perhaps, remember that when Francis joined the " Stuart," 
he had, very recently, had the scarlet fever — so recently, 
indeed, that he had not yet " peeled," and it was necessary 
to procure the captain's consent before he could be allowed 
to join. Perhaps my grateful stepson did not inform him 
that / — the stepmother, towards whom his feelings were 
so much the reverse of kindly — whom he flatly refuses to 
believe could ever have addressed me in affectionate terms, 
was the one to nurse him and his brothers and sisters 
through that disease, when their own relations were too 
much afraid of infection to enter the sick room ; that I 
stayed with him day and night, and, when he was low 
and believed himself in danger of death, was the recipient 
of all his confidences and confessions. This was not a 
deed done in the dark. Every one knows it is true, from 
Dr. Howell, of Boundary Road, who attended the children. 



96 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

to the servants who waited on them. The last letter 
Francis wrote to his father contained an affectionate 
message to me, with the rider, " tell her I shall never for- 
get how she nursed me through the scarlet fever.'^ What, 
then, of the gratitude and honest}^ of the young man, whose 
sentiments were "the reverse of kindhV when discussing 
me with his shi23mates. Why, the very fact of his doing 
so proves he was a paltroon at heart. What gentleman, 
with the feelings of a gentleman, would talk over his 
female connections with a lot of rough " 'prentices " ? 
Who, who could do such a thing, could be trusted to tell 
the truth in other matters ? 

" For the rest his narrative proceeds thus : Captain 
Bradshaw went on shore early in the day, July 9th, and 
left instructions for me to send one of the ship's life boats 
on shore shortly after noon, and I did so, the boat being 
in charge of Mr. Kerr, the second officer, with five men 
with him to row her. Shortly after the boat had pushed 
off from the ship, I noticed her returning, and, upon 
getting near, Mr. Kerr hailed me to ask for another man to 
assist in the rowing, as the boat rowed heavily. Francis 
Lean was standing by my side at the time, and the look on 
his face convinced me that he would like to go, and I told 
him he might do so. lie then asked permission to get liis 
watch and chain from the berth. I granted his request, 
and, a few seconds afterwards, he ajiiDeared on deck, carrying 
his uniform coat on his arm, and a pipe and tobacco pouch 
in his hand. I noticed that he had his watch and chain 
attached to his vest. He entered the boat aiul took the 
bow oar, and that was tlie last I saw of him." * * * * 

The intimate friend, it will be seen, is rather irrelevant, as 
what the fact of Francis Lean having taken his watch and 
chain with him, or his tobacco pouch and pi))e with him, 
has to do with my having spoken to him since death, is not 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 97 

readily perceptible ; but I promised to give the account 
intact^ so my readers must have a little patience. I beg 
of them, however, to observe that the narrator of these 
facts, who " is prepared, if necessary, to verify his narrative 
by a declaration on oath,^' 7iever smv any more of him. 

" The boat reached the shore safely, and the crew were 
allowed to wander around the town for a few hours. Be- 
tween four and five in the evening they pushed off, so as 
to get to the ship before dark. The second officer was 
steering the boat, and Lean still rowed the bow oar. When 
about half way oil to the ship a blind swell rose close under 
the boat's bow, and this was followed by a huge, breaking 
wave, which * over-ended ' the boat. Lean was, apparently, 
killed instantly by the boat in turning over, smashing his 
head in ; at any rate, lie never rose again. Five of the oc- 
cupants found themselves clinging to the boat, and two 
were missing. One of the missing ones was, however, a 
prisoner on top of the thwarts, under the boat, and, by push- 
ing out the plug, he was enabled to breathe freely. The 
accident had been witnessed from the shore by the port 
captain, and a boat, put off, picked up the floating surviv- 
ors and towed the boat on to a little beach, when the 
sailor underneath was liberated, more dead than alive. 
When the accident occurred, the boat's crew were laughing 
heartily at a tale which Lean had just told them. * * * 
A reward was offered the next day, and a body was found 
about twenty miles away, and Captain Bradshaw rode a 
dreary journey to see it, hut it luas impossible to recognize 
the once handsome youth, for he was a very, very handsome lad. 
Hoivever, the hody was, no doubt, his, and received a decent 
burial, and it was our intention to erect a monument to our 
comrade's memory, but the Chilians cleared us out at a 
few hours' notice, and we were unable to do so. * * * 
He was a splendid specimen of an English lad of eighteen 



98 THE SPIRIT AVORLD. 

years of age. Upright, truthful and plucky, and full of 
fun and devilment, and I am sure his spirit would not lie. 
I think — nay, / am sure — I know him better than '^Miss 
Marryat' could have done." 

This narrative of Francis Lean's death, which Scrutator 
is ready, without enquiry, to pit against my word, is, after 
all, then, but a second-hand account, Mr. Davis not having 
been present at the time, nor able to tell, except by hear- 
say, what may, or may not, have taken place during the 
" few hours " spent on shore, to create ill-feeling amongst 
any of the crew. In my book, / speak only of what I have 
seen personally ; Mr. Davis, more privileged, apparently, is 
ready to take his oath to what he has not seen, but only 
heard from some one else. It was " quite impossible," he 
says, to recognize the body found as that of Francis Lean ; 
yet, it was, no douM, his, which proves him to be of a cred- 
ible disposition, more so, perhaps, than myself. He asserts 
his friend to have been "upright, truthful and plucky, a 
specimen of an English lad." I wish I' could have added 
that he was so ! Poor Francis ! Did he ever tell his inti- 
mate friend (who, so impudently, asserts that he is sure 
that he knew him better tlian myself) that he was closely 
connected with a legal case, the details of which are too 
abominable for publication; that it was the chief reason of 
his being banished from home, and made his own father 
declare that he could not stand tlie sight of him ? Colonel 
Lean is still living. lie could corroborate everything which 
Mr. Davis' ill-advised interference luis compelled me to 
say here, if lie chose ; it would ])e impossible for him to 
deny them, for he made the facts too widely known him- 
self. 

Scrutator goes on : " The portions of the statement 
which I have omitted are either irrelevant details, or com- 
ments upon the supposed revelations of Francis Lean's 



THE SPIRIT ^^-ORLD. 99 

spirit. I have already staled that Mr. Davis is ready to 
swear to his statement, if necessary. I may add, that he 
appeals for corroboration to Captain Bradshaw, and the 
rest of the ship's company, and to the log of the ^ Stuart.' '' 

What proofs would these authorities give us that I have 
not conversed with the spirit of my stepson ? The ship's 
company and log could, doubtless, prove the time and 
manner of the lad's death; but they could not j)rove any- 
thing else, and, as for Mr. Davis' anxiety, to swear to what 
lie never saiv, I have known sailors who would swear for 
the pleasure of it. 

" Xow, let us look at the bearing of this narrative on the 
^ supposed ' appearance of the poor lad to his stepmother 
after his death. To begin with, Chorillos is, by the clock, a 
trifle over five hours west of Greenwich. The accident 
took place, apparently, about 5 p. m., or a little after. Mr. 
Davis does not state the time that it would be required to 
row from the shore to the ship; but that it was a long and 
hard pull is shown, first, by the fact of the second officer 
putting back in order to get an additional hand; secondly, 
by the boat putting off from the shore ' between four and 
five,' in order to reach the ship before dark, the month 
being July, and the latitude twelve degrees south of the 
equator. The boat having started between four and five, 
and having been capsized half way between the ship and 
the shore, it is a safe inference that the time luas not much, 
if any ^ earlier than five o^cloclc. What would have been 
the corresponding time in Brighton ? Ten o'clock, or a 
little later. Yet, Miss Marryat is under the impression 
that she saw Francis Lean on the esplanade, at Brighton, 
before dark, on the same evening. And, evidently, it was 
some time hefore darh. She saw him smiling at her, and 
she ^ hastened ' up to him ; but, just as she reached him, 
he moved off. This imjMes that she recognized him at a 



100 THE SPIKIT WORLD. 

distance of some paces ; and, to recognize with certainty, 
at such a distance, the features of a man, believed to be at 
the other side of the world, implies that it was still day- 
light.'' 

Not so fast. Scrutator, if you please. No implications. 
You will not allow me any, and I would prefer your stick- 
ing to plain facts, as I do. I do not specify, in my 
account, the hour when I saw the apparition, nor the 
distance at which I saw it. I do not say ^vlien I went 
out for my walk, nor how long I stayed. All the informa- 
tion you get from me is that, at that time, it was light 
till eight or nine in the evening ; and, I believe, I only 
mentioned it in order to account for a woman walking 
alone at night in such a place as Brighton. I especially 
speak, afterwards, of the "unpleasantly bright moonlight 
that streamed into my bedroom window " ; and, when one 
remembers the time of the year, and the moonlight, and 
the many lamps that are lighted on the Brighton esplanade, 
it is not likely that I encountered much " twilight," or 
"dusk," during my peregrinations ; for, you go on: "?/ it 
was twilight or dusk, the supposed recognition ceases to 
have the slightest significance." But what about the 
second apparition, that appeared, under the moonlight, in 
my bedroom ; and how was it that both should have ap- 
peared on the 9th of July, a date which even tlie omniscient 
Davis cannot deny is the one of Francis Lean's death. 

"On July the ninth tlie sun would set about twelve or 
fourteen minutes i)ast eiglit, and it cannot have heen much 
later than tliis that the ' supposed ' ai)parition was seen. 
At 8:15, by Greenwich time, it would be 3:15 in Peru, and, 
at tliat time, Francis Lean was on shore at Chorillos. Even 
j)iitting tlie a})parition as late as 9 p. M., Greenwich time- 
when (layliglit would be all but gone, it would be barely 
four at Chorillos, and the ' Stuart's ' boat had not yet been 



THE SPIRIT WOELD. 101 

put off from shore. It would seem, therefore, either that 
the young man's phantom, or spook, or whatever it may be 
called, appeared at Brighton from one to two hours before 
his death, or Miss Marryat^s eyes deceived her. Personally, 
I prefer the latter alternative, more especially in view of her 
subsequent vision of Mr. Lean smiling at her, in the crowd 
on the pavement, as she was driving through the streets of 
Poplar. 

" Now, as to the circumstances narrated by Mr. Lean^s 
shade when ^materialized^ by the doctor. On the first 
point, the spectre is clearly right ; there was, certainly, no 
foul play. ISTot only was there no foul play, but there luas 
not a suspicion of foul play, nor, so far as Miss Marryat 
informs us, a particle of evidence to warrant her putting 
the question.^^ 

Here I interfere again, to remark that Scrutator is 
writing of what he knows nothing. There was a good deal 
of suspicion in the minds of more than one person about 
the manner in which Francis Lean's death was brought 
about, or, rather, I should say, the accident by which his 
death was brought about, and I was decidedly warranted in 
putting the question I did to the spirit who appeared to 
me. The doubt had been put into my mind by other per- 
sons — persons who certainly knew a great deal more about 
Erancis Lean's previous life and private affairs than Mr. 
Davis did. 

" But the suggestion having been raised by her question, 
observe how the ^ spook ' catches it up. Although there 
was no foul play, there was a quarrel, he says, a quarrel 
about a woman. There was a fight, and, in the fight, the 
boat was upset, although the spook very generously admits 
that he was as much to blame for the occurrence as the 
comrade with whom he was fighting. Every word of this 
is pure invention, but it is a trifle, beside the next state- 



102 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

ment. * How was it your body was never found ? ' asks 
the lady. She was unaware, you see, that the body had 
not only heen found, tut hurled ; and, for the second time, 
she leads the poor spirit into a trap." 

Again is Scrutator reckoning without his host. Colonel 
Lean and I were certainly aware that a tody had been 
picked up and buried ; but Francis had told us before, 
through trance-mediumship, that it was not his body, and, 
since the captain confesses he could not recognize it, who 
should know best about the matter ? 

*^ His body, he replies, had been dragged down by an 
under-current, and was floating off Cape Horn, before even a 
reward was offered. Thus, not only is the non-recovery of 
the body explained, but a second imputation is cast upon a 
dead man's shipmates. Alas ! poor ghost ! Cape Horn (al- 
though he does not know it) is distant from Chorillos 2,624 
miles, and no current could carry a human body that dis- 
tance without knoching it to ineces, even, if to facilitate 
matters, all the sharks between Cape Horn and the Peru- 
vian coast had been extermhiated. 

" As a matter of fact, however (although this, also, he does 
not know), the poor ghost's body was washed ashore 
twenty miles from Chorillos. A reward (although he does 
not know it) had been offered for the recovery of his body, 
witliin a few hours of the accident, and long before any 
portion of his anatomy coukl, hy anything short of a mir- 
acle, liave drifted to Cape Horn, his remains (although he 
is unaware of it), were decently interred in the soil of Peru, 
In sliort, the statements put into the mouth of this unlucky 
ghost are, from beginning to end, a tissue of impudeiit 
lies, not only contradicted, at each point, by the evidence 
of flesh and blood witnesses, but preposterous upon the 
very face of them." 

Now, 1 want my readers to observe how very foolish 






THE SPIRIT WORLD. 103 

presumably clever man may make himself when he is 
eager to prove that which he wishes and believes to be 
true. Had Scrutator been in the witness-box, and con- 
fronted Avith Sir George Lewis, or Sir Charles Eussell, 
with these last assertions, he would have been turned in- 
side out, like an old glove, and sucked dry^ before he had 
known where he was. In the first place, he says I had 7io 
warrant to put the question about foul play to Francis 
Lean. Here he is utterly wrong ; he knows nothing of 
what he is writing. Secondly, he affirms that I did not 
know the body had been found. Certainly not, and no 
one knows it. Thirdly, that, because the current could not 
carry a body out to Cape Horn without Icnocking it to 
pieces, Francis Lean^s body was not carried there. Did I 
say that it arrived uninjured at Cape Horn ? A body is a 
body, whether battered or not. Fourthly, that the spirit 
did not know that a reward had been offered for his body ; 
whereas he said his body was at Cape Horn before the 
reward ivas offered. Fifthly, that he is unaware that he 
was decently interred in Peru. He was, and so are his 
friends to this day. It is a mere conjecture, and the " im- 
pudent lies '^ are more likely to be on the other side. 

" What is the conclusion ? " goes on Scrutator ; " after 
having tried hard to prove a fact which is too much wrapped 
in mystery to be proved at all, there is a choice of four : 
(1) Either Francis Lean^s spirit returned to earth, for the 
purpose of hoaxing his stepmother, and suggesting slander- 
ous imputations on his comrades ; or (2) Mr. Davis has 
grautitously come forward, from no conceivable motive, to 
perjure himself, in order to impugn the veracity of his de- 
parted friend ; or (3) Miss Florence Marryat has concocted 
the alleged revelations of her stepson's spook, for the pur- 
pose of hoaxing the public ; or (4) Miss Marryat is, her- 
self, the victim of an impudent fraud. The first two alter- 



104 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

natives I dismiss at once, and the third does not seem to 
me worthy of consideration. I have no doubt that Miss 
Marr3'at honestly believes that she saw Mr. Lean at 
Brighton and London, both, on the occasion when she was 
awake and the occasion when she was asleep ; nor do I 
doubt that she was introduced to what she supposed to be 
the materialized shade of Mr. Lean, by various mediums in 
America. That she really saw, in the latter instance, any- 
thing more spiritual than the bogus bogeys, which have 
been publicly exposed and held up to derision a hundred 
times on both sides of the Atlantic, no sane person, who 
reads these lines, will doubt ; nor will any sane person have 
any difficulty in seeing that the bogey, or the *^ doctor,' who 
worked it, knew just as much about young Lean's fate as 
Miss Marryat herself, and invented the rest, with the 
highly interesting results above recorded. Cordially and 
ungrudgingly do I acquit Miss Marryat of any intention to 
deceive. Nevertheless, a lady, who can, at this time of 
day, put forth a bulky volume, made up entirely of stair 
mediums' tricks^ and jrretendecl sjnrit revelatmis, most of 
them of the same character as the above, and many of them 
infinitely more grotesque., or offensivey deserves, to my 
thinking, very little mercy. To paraphrase the familiar 
line, evil is wrought by stupidity, or credulity, as well as 
by deliberate intention ; and that evil, in all sorts of shapes, 
must be wrought by tlie circulation of such a mass of per- 
nicious nonsense, as is contained in this one volume, ad- 
mits of very little doubt." 

And here ends Scrutator's very valuable contribution to 
the cause of Spiritualism and lenient criticism on a fellow- 
literateur's work. '^Fhe meaning of it is obvious. The ar- 
ticle is written against Spiritualism, not against me, and, 
in furtherance of tluit end, he would have accepted the 
testimony of an idiot out of Earlswood Asylum. He hates 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 105 

the name of Spiritualism; he has never honestly enquired 
into it, and he utterly ignores, in his endeavor to prove 
me a fool, the names of all the clever and scientific men 
who haye attested to its truth. They, too, are, doubtless, 
fools, or insane, in his eyes ; only Mr. Davis, and him- 
self, being in their right minds. Now let me recapitulate 
the accusations against me, which induced the publication 
of this long-winded article : 

(1) I cannot have seen the spirit of Francis Lean on the 
9th of July, 1880, because he was drowned at five o'clock, 
and could not have appeared at Brighton before ten. 

(2) His spirit must have lied, in saying his body was 
carried out to Cape Horn, because it was buried in Peru. 

(3) He lied in saying there was a quarrel about a woman. 

(4) Also, on the authority of the master mariner, in ad- 
dressing me by any affectionate term. 

And I affirm, that not one of these accusations has been 
proved. 

(1) I never fixed any particular time, except the date of 
the 9th of July, for having seen the boy's spirit. 

(2) There is no proof, whatever, that his body was not 
carried out to Cape Horn, or that the one buried was his. 

(3) There was a woman in the case, and there had been 
disagreements between himself and another person, on 
board, on that subject. 

(4) I need only appeal to those of his family, who knew 
us both, whilst Francis lived, and to those who saw and 
heard the spirit speak to me afterwards, for its contradic- 
tion. Scrutator makes more than one allusion to what 
"sane" people would do, or think; but is he not aware 
that each one of us is ready to believe our neighbor mad, 
for doing such things as we would shrink from ourselves ? 
One man we consider mad, because he will not give up the 
fatal habit of drinking, which is hurrying him to his grave; 



106 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

another, because, spite of all warnings, lie allies his name 
with some low woman, who has been common property; 
and others, again, may rightly be considered lunatics for rid- 
ing full tilt against their favorite lefe noir, and landing 
themselves in an action for libel for their pains. At any 
rate, I think, considering who / am, and who Mr. Davis 
is, that Scrutator might have given a fellow-laborer, whom 
he '• cordially and ungrudgingly '^ acquits of any intention 
to deceive, a hearing, as well as a perfect stranger, of whose 
reliability he knoAvs nothing, except on his own report. Mr. 
Davis, doubtless, knows all about latitude and longitude, 
and the mean time between Greenwich and the seaports of 
the world; but he knows nothing about Spiritualism, and 
he has not made out his case. If any one blames me for 
speaking out, the blame must be laid at his door. Next 
time he has a desire to thrust himself into public notice, 
he would do well to consider whether he knows what he is 
talking about. He has proved to be the worst friend poor 
Francis Lean ever had. No one knew anything about the 
lad ; his death passed as unnoticed as his life had done, 
except by those who were nearest to him. Mr. Davis has 
raked up his memory from a desirable oblivion; and, in 
consequence of his impertinent and ungentlemanly attack 
upon me, has forced me to say what I would much rather 
have kept to myself. It was hardly likely that I should 
have been expected to grieve much for the loss of a stepson 
of whom his nearest relations said, on liearing he was gone, 
" Thank God I " Still, the fact remains, that I was the 
only woman who went into black for him, as I was the only 
woman wlio had done anything for him during the last 
years of his life. It has remained for his intimate friend 
to leave on record what a grateful and honorable spirit he 
possessed ; so much so, that he will not even believe that 
fh'atli may liave opened its eyes to liis injustice and ingrati- 



THE SPIKIT WORLD. 107 

tude. All I can say is, that I trust, when I die, no inti- 
mate friend of mine may, in like manner, expose the worst 
traits in my character, for no earthly reason but to see his 
own name in print. For, still, after all the slanderous 
insinuatioijs that Scrutator has chosen to make against my 
veracity and clear-headedness, the fact remains — to which 
I am prepared, like Mr. Davis, if need be, to make a 
declaration on oath — that I have seen, touched, heard and 
spoken to, the spirit of Francis Lean. 



108 



CHAPTER VI. 

HOW TO I]S^VESTIGATE SPIRITUALISM. 

Almost every correspondent I have had on this subject 
has asked me how he is to investigate Spiritualism in 
order to obtain the same results that I have. Now, I can- 
not promise any one the same results that I have been 
fortunate enough to secure, though we can all try for them. 
Eor, in the first place, it depends, in a great measure, on 
the mediumistic forces of the investigator, though, I believe, 
we are all mediums in a greater or lesser degree, and were 
intended, from the creation itself, to have the capability 
of holding intercourse with the Spiritual world. But the 
power has been pushed out of sight, and allowed to lie 
fallow until it is only here and there that it exists so 
strongly as to come to the front without the volition of 
its possessor. I am a physical medium, and though I can- 
not procure materializations by myself, I am said to 
impart much force to those I sit with. This is the secret, 
I suppose, of my invariable success. But, even with me, it 
has taken much time and trouble, and perseverance, to 
obtain the undeniable proofs I have of everlasting life. 
But, before people enter upon this most absorbing pursuit, 
they should know a little of the truth concerning the 
way in which the spirit leaves the body, and why it so 
often appears at the time of death, and tlien, perliaps, not 
for some years afterwards. Witli regard to tliis parting of 
tlie spirit from the body, we have been brought up in as 
utter ignorance as we liave of almost everything else con- 
cerniiig ourselves. What is tlie first thin<i: we do when i 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 109 

any one, whom, we have been watching, perhaps, through a 
long sickness, appears to lose all his strength and sinks 
back in our arms, or on the pillow, unable to speak or 
move ? The eyes glaze with exceeding weakness, the jaw 
falls open, the limbs shudder convulsively, and then are 
still. " He is gone ! " exclaims some one, and we accept 
the apparent fact and rush from the room, perhaps, over- 
whelmed with grief. Who is gone ? What is gone ? His 
soul, you answer ; it has gone to Heaven ; it is already 
thousands and thousands of miles beyond this earth ; he 
can neither hear us, nor see us, nor know what we are 
doing. Servants, or, perhaps, utter strangers to the de- 
parted are called in to perform the last offices for the dead. 
Your friend has died, maybe, in the depth of winter. You 
have been keeping up fires, night and day, to try and 
preserve the warmth of the weak body ; you have kept the 
windows strictly closed, and heaped blankets and feather 
quilts above him. The professional layer-out comes in ; 
what is the first thing she does ? The windows are thrown 
open, the fire let out, the bedclothes taken off, and the 
body of one who, perhaps, was too modest, during his life- 
time, to uncover before any but himself, is stripped, 
washed, and straightened out on a board, on the bare 
mattress of the bed, covered with a sheet, its jaws tied 
up with a handkerchief, so close that, if animation were to 
return, the spirit could not cry out for assistance, and then 
it is left alone, locked up in the freezing room, without a 
chance of resuscitation. " Without a chance of resuscita- 
tioUy' you will exclaim ; '^ but the man is dead ! " To your 
eyes, doubtless, but you may be mistaken. "Dewdrop'^ 
tells me that many an apparent corpse would revive, i.e., 
the spirit might be lured again into the body, if a differ- 
ent course of action were pursued. She says that when a 
mortal is, seemingly, lifeless, i.e., when the body is so weak 



110 THE SPIRIT WOELD. 

that the spirit has slipped out of it, it is not separated from 
it for some time after. If you have had a fire in the room, 
make it twice as large ; if you have had none, light it. If 
the sick person has been lying under a mass of bedclothes, 
heap on more ; if the windows have been open, close them — 
and often the spirit, from increased warmth, will be enabled 
to return, and the apparent dead recover as from a swoon. 
Your mistake is in supposing that, directly the spirit has 
slipped outside its body, it is gone ; whereas, it is connected 
to the body by ligaments of light, that bind it to the brain, 
the heart, and the vitals, and sometimes these cords are 
not ruptured for days, or weeks, after it has left its earthly 
tenement. 

The custom of letting the last offices we can perform for 
our friends devolve upon strangers, is a most cruel one. 
Don't imagine that the spirit does not know it, and see it ; 
don't fancy it has been carried away to a sphere where 
it cannot see, nor hear, nor understand. When your 
friend quits his body, he often remains in the same room, 
as long as his body does. If he never returns into it, he, 
at least, sees all that is going on regarding it, and knows if 
it is being ministered to by strangers, who have no respect 
for his feelings, or by those whom he has loved (and still 
loves) on earth. The sensations of a spirit, when first 
separated from the body, have been described to me as 
most peculiar. It is but half awake ; sometimes it does 
not know it has left the body ; it feels sick and faint, and 
cokl and weary. It cannot realize wliat has happened ; 
at other times, it is fully conscious that it has passed over, 
and has cut forever all the ties of earth, except such as 
belong to the affections. The body is worthless, but we 
cannot treat it too tenderly, for the sake of the spirit who 
is watching all we do, aiul needs, perhaps, our sympathy 
and loving kindness, just as much as when it was attached 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. Ill 

to earth. There it stands, beside the bed, dazed, bewil- 
dered, weak and trembling, like a child new-born from the 
mother ! Kemember, next time you are present at a death 
scene, that the spirit is there — in the room with you — long- 
ing to speak, perhaps, and to dry your tears and adminis- 
ter sweet comfort. Don't give way to any noisy demon- 
strations of grief — you may make it still more bewildered 
than it is; don't leave the poor body in darkness, and alone. 

The Catholic custom of keeping candles burning at the 
head and foot of the coffin, has its origin in the knowledge 
that the spirit is still present, and that light will prevent 
anything evil from approaching it whilst it remains below. 
In many countries, too, it is the custom to sit up with a 
corpse until it is carried to the grave. 

I had a friend, a medium^ who was engaged to be married 
to a young girl, called Amy. This girl died very suddenly, 
greatly to his grief. She ate of some indigestible food, 
which suffocated her during the night. Her parents had 
her body laid out in the usual way, and made every arrange- 
ment for her funeral. Before it took place, however. Amy 
appeared to my friend, and told him to prevent her being 
buried, as she was not yet dead, i. e., not properly separated 
from her body. The young man went at once to the father 
of the girl, and begged him to postpone the funeral, which, 
at first, he refused to do, the doctor having certified to the 
death, and the cause of it. Her fiance, however, was so much 
in earnest, that he obtained a promise that Amy should 
not be buried till some signs of decomposition had set in. 
The body lay in its coffin, in the father's house, /or three 
weeks, without experiencing the least change. At the end 
of that time, however. Amy appeared again to her lover, 
and told him, joyfully, that, at last, she was quite freed 
from her body, and ^hey might bury her as soon as they 
chose. He went to the family with this news, and found that 



112 THE SPIKIT WORLD. 

the body, which had retained its freshness for so long, had 
literally fallen to pieces that very morning, and the coffin had 
been obliged to be closed. 

The spirit of a brewer, who had been accidentally killed, 
once told me the story of his death. He said it had hap- 
pened on a very hot day, when, overcome by sleep, he had 
been sitting on the shaft of his dray and nodding drowsily 
backwards and forwards. Suddenly-, he found himself on 
his feet, wide awake, looking, in company with a crowd of 
strangers, at the body of a man who Avas under the wheel of 
the dray. At first, he felt very frightened, for he thought 
the accident had occurred through his negligence. He was 
aware he had been sleeping on his post, and thought he had 
run over some man in the road. He was terribly concerned 
about it, he told me, fearing he should get into trouble; and 
when the people fetched a doctor from the hospital (for it 
liappened just opposite St. George's Hospital), he was eager 
to see who had come to so sad an end. The doctor turned 
the body over, and the spirit saw his oimiface. Even then he 
could not believe that it could be himself. He felt so much 
like what he liad always done, and remembered nothing of 
passing out of the body; but when he was convinced of the 
truth, he said he became violently agitated, and wanted to 
come back to this world again. He followed the persons, 
who carried the body, into the hospital ward, and, whilst 
the doctors were examining it, to see if there was any pos- 
sibility of assistance, he told me he made the most tremen- 
dous efforts to get into it again, but it was so maimed and 
broken, it was impossible. He might as well have tried to 
live in a house witliout roof or walls. He said ho remained 
])y his body as long as it was in the hospital, and, for some 
time, by the grave — whore it was buried — he found it so hard 
to sever the links that bound him to it. liut then he had 
been a very strong, hearty man, and he died most suddenly. 



THE SPIKIT WORLD. 113 

Such spirits have always more difficulty in disentail;- 
gling themselves from their mortal tenement than those 
who have passed through lingering illness. But many 
have told me that they have attended their own funerals, 
and heard, and seen, all that passed there. More, es- 
pecially, is this the case, with the spirits of men and 
women, who have had centered all their interests and affec- 
tions in the things of this life— who have never cultivated 
their spirituality, but let it dwindle down till it gives out 
no more light than a farthing rushlight. And, mind you, 
that there are many such people who are, yet, very lovable, 
very good (in our sense of the word), and very kind, but 
who are wholly of the earth, earthly. 

Some spirits pass out of the flesh so human that there is 
hardly any spirit in them at all. Necessarily, they must 
stay on this earth — earth-bound, as some call it ; but I 
would rather say, within the belt of ether which surrounds 
the earth — until they are fitted to breathe a more spiritual 
atmosphere. As a spirit friend once said to me : " It is 
not because God does not wish them to rise. It is because 
they are still so human, that they could no more breathe 
the atmosphere of the higher planets than you could breathe 
above a certain altitude, if you went up in a balloon." And, 
even when they rise above the grossness of this world, if 
all their interests are centered here, they are very easily 
attracted back to it. Therein lies the danger of vehemently 
wishing for certain spirits to return and manifest them- 
selves, when they do not come voluntarily. I imagine 
their friends over there are often doing all they can to 
keep them from coming back to earth (just as we would 
try to keep a drunkard from the public house), because 
the temptations here are too strong for them, until their 
spirituality has overcome their materialism, whilst the 
laments, and yearnings, and sighs of earth pull them the 



114 THE SPIRIT WOKLD. 

other way, and they return here, only to acquire a fresh 
taint of carnal-mindedness, and undo the little improve- 
ment that may have been effected in them. I am speaking, 
now, of worldly people, hardened people, and those who 
have been really gross and wicked. With the young, and 
those who have lived joure and spiritual lives, I think, it 
is very different. In the first place, their spirits separate 
far more easily from their bodies, and, when separated, are 
carried away to a higher sphere, whence, if they return, it 
is to teach and succor those they have left behind, as my 
"Florence " does to me. 

The spirits who have attained the highest spheres pos- 
sible may return to this world to teach others how to fol- 
low in their footsteps. One spirit told me that the Christ 
himself, passes, at regular intervals, through all the 
spheres, from the lowest to the highest, to purify them. 
This statement is endorsed by the Scriptures, which tell us 
that, when Christ died, he went down to hell (or hades, 
i. e.y the place of departed spirits) '^ to preach to them who 
were, one time, disobedient.^' What would have been the 
use of his preaching to souls who were, already, according 
to the dogmas of the religion taught us, damned in hell ? 
He preached to them, in order that they might aspire to 
rise and progress. The next life is a life of progression. 
As soon as we are disencumbered of the flesh, our eyes are 
spiritually opened, and we see the sins of which we have 
been guilty ; not as we saw and disregarded their weight 
whilst on earth, but in all their breadth, and depth, and 
height, and length. We shall see ourselves as we are ; 
we shall see the enormity of our sins, the sorrow they have 
caused otliers, tlie evil clfects they will have, "even unto 
the third and fourth generation," until we loathe our- 
selves, and long to be purged of the evil done in the flesh. 
And, witli tlie first sincere desire to im2:)rove, we shall 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 115 

commence to rise, until we have attained the presence of 
God. It may take years, hundreds of years, thousands of 
years ; but, however long the purgatory, the happiness will 
be attained at last. Christ spoke of the law of progres- 
sion, when he told the Scribes and Pharisees that the 
harlots and publicans should go into the kingdom of 
Heaven " before them.'^ The parsons would tell us that 
the harlots and publicans will never go into Heaven at 
all, but be immediately condemned to their favorite, hell. 
O, what would they do, if robbed of their good, old hell? 
But Christ did not say so. He, evidently, thought that 
the very sins of which the poor harlots and publicans were 
guilty — the lavishness, the generosity, the weakness and 
the carelessness— were more likely to succumb to a knowl- 
edge of themselves, and change to virtue, than the bigotry, 
narrow-mindedness and self-conceit of the Pharisees. 

But I am forgetting my subject, which was to speak of 
the departure from earth of the young and (comparatively 
speaking) innocent. My own dear child (not "Florence,^^ 
but another daughter, whom I have lost since her), on her 
first return to earth, when I asked her what her sensations 
had been on entering the spirit world, replied : " When I 
had passed through the narrow gate of death, I met my 
Father, God, Who blessed me and bade me go onwards ; 
and, immediately, I found myself in the arms of Granny 
Marryat (by which she meant my mother), and I have been 
with her ever since." She, evidently, then, did not re- 
main for one minute on the earth sphere, but went to the 
place appointed for her, at once. 

I have a young lady friend, the daughter of a family 
moving in the highest society, who is a wonderful medium, 
though the fact is known to no one but her intimate 
friends. Her father passed on, many years ago, leaving 
his widow with a large family of sons and daughters to 



116 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

bring up, as well as a large property to manage, whicli one 
may say he has done, entirely, for her since, through their 
medium istic child. She became controlled by her father, 
shortly after his death, since which time he has constantly 
held communication with her mother, giving her advice 
about her children, and her land, etc. The mother, in 
consequence, learned shorthand, in order to take down her 
husband^s words, as he uttered them through her daughter's 
lips ; also typewriting, that she might transcribe them 
afterwards. She showed me several large volumes of these 
typewritten words of counsel, to which she is constantly 
referring. But the circumstance which I was about to 
relate, concerning this young lady medium, is as follows : 
Some few years since, she had the misfortune to lose her 
elder sister, a most beautiful girl of twenty, who died, 
after a few days' illness, of pleurisy. Edith (as I will call 
the young medium) told me that she was with her sister 
during the course of her illness, and that she witnessed, 
clairvoyantly, the whole process of the spirit leaving the 
body. She said that, on the last day of her earth life, her 
sister was flushed, excited, and slightly delirious, tossing 
about on her pillows, and talking incoherently. About 
this time, Edith observed a film, like a cloud of smoke, 
gathering above her head, where it gradually spread out 
until it had acquired the shape, lengthwise, of her sister's 
body — a fac-simile, as it were, of the dying girl, only without 
coloring, and suspended in the air, face downwards, about 
two or three feet above her. As the day wore on, and the 
delirious restlessness gave way to the weakness of approach- 
ing death, Editli could see her sister's feverish color fade, 
and lier eyes grew dimmer, whilst, simultaneously, the 
vapory form, suspended in the air above her, began to be 
tinted ; first, very faintly, then, by degrees, more and 
more, until it glowed with the life that was rapidly depart- 



THE SPIKIT WORLD. 117 

ing from the body. The dying girl grew weaker and 
weaker, nntil she lay back on her pillows, speechless and 
unconscious. As she did so, the spirit above her, which was 
still bound to her brain, heart and vitals by cords of light, 
like electricity, became, as it were, a living soul. As her 
sister breathed her last earthly breath, Edith saw the spirit 
sway from side to side, until it stood upright by the side of 
the bed, very weak, apparently, and scarcely able to stand, 
but still the living presentment of the corpse, which now 
was stretched in death before her eyes. As Edith was 
watching this wonderful sight, she saw the spirits of her 
father and grandmother, who had also died in their house, 
appear, and support the new-born spirit between them, 
passing their arms beneath hers, whilst her head rested, like 
that of a fainting person, on her father's shoulder. After 
they had held her thus for a short time, she seemed to revive 
somewhat, at which they ruptured, with their hands, the 
cords which bound her to her body, and, rising, with her 
between them, passed through the window, where Edith 
saw them all three floating up a smooth green hill, until 
they vanished out of her sight. 

Can it be wondered at, that people who are blessed with 
such visions, are unable to despair when those they love 
leave them for a little while ? 

Mrs. Russell Davis had a friend, who died, lingeringly, 
of cancer, and was very anxious she should be with him at 
the last, and, as the time of his death was pretty well 
known beforehand, she was able to comply with his request. 
She has told me that his great anxiety was, that his wife 
should come to conduct him over to the distant shore, and 
it had been promised him she should do so. As Mrs. 
Davis was sitting by his side on the day he died, she saw 
his wife's spirit standing at the foot of the bed. The dy- 
ing man also perceived it; for, rising suddenly, he stretched 



118 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

out his arms towards her, and she opened hers, when Mrs. 
Davis actually saw the husband^s spirit shoot out of his 
body, as if it had been his double, and. fly into the arms of 
his wife, whilst his corpse fell back upon his pillows. 

Andrew Jackson Davis, an American writer, has pub- 
lished a little pamphlet, which^ I think, can be procured 
for a few pence, in which he gives the full description of 
the departure of a spirit from the body, which he saw like 
the birth of a child from the mother — the cords of light 
which I have mentioned serving instead of the umbilical 
cord — whilst the reclining attitude at first, and the extreme 
weakness afterwards, on attempting to stand upright, all 
combine to carry out his simile. 

Some spirits have spoken to me of having been " so ter- 
ribly wet '' on first recovering consciousness after death. 
All mediums who are fully entranced, will tell you they 
have been carried through water. This corroborates the 
old heathenish idea of the river Styx, over which the dead 
were ferried by Charon. In the Bible we find various allu- 
sions to the same thing. '•' When thou passest through 
the waters, I will be with thee ; the deep floods shall not 
overwhelm thee.^' " Florence ^^ has told me that she 
always looks at me through clear water, and that, some- 
times, I seem such a long way off to her, when, in reality, 
I am quite near. She has said : "You seem to me as if 
you were at the bottom of a well.'' 

I think it is wise and right that you should know a 
little about such things before you commence to investi- 
gate Spiritualism. The notion that you can command 
your spirit friends to return, or bring them back, or call 
them up or down, is only born of the universal ignorance 
concerning the truth. If they are not dwelling within 
the belt of ether that surrounds the earth, I do not tliink 
they can return at all, unless sent on a special mission 



THE SPIEIT WOKLD. 119 

from God. If they still remain on this earth, and you 
give them the opening to communicate with you, they will, 
doubtless, find little difficulty in doing so. If they talk 
differently, from what you anticipated, from a spiritual 
being, remember that it is quite possible that they may 
not be so enlightened on that subject as yourself, and 
believe themselves to le 'still in your world. Many spirits 
whom I have conversed with have utterly refused to be- 
lieve that they had passed over. Now, if you wish to inves- 
. tigate the truth of Spiritualism for yourself, the first thing 
to ascertain is, are you thoroughly in earnest f 

It is of no use taking up the pursuit of a science out of 
curiosity — sitting at a table with a few acquaintances one 
evening, and, on the next, with a totally different party ; 
going away for a couple of months, and beginning afresh, 
as the humor may take you, with anybody who may ex- 
press a wish to join your circle. That is not the manner 
in which you would commence the study of Greek or 
Latin, or any abstruse subject, on the accomplishment of 
which the welfare of your future depended. In that in- 
stance, you would obtain all the information you could 
regarding it, first, and then you would sit down to master 
the alphabet, and learn the sounds of the letters, and 
the meaning of the words, until, by little and little, you 
crept on to interpret the sentences. If you sincerely de- 
sire to investigate Spiritualism for yourself, you must do 
it in like manner — crawling before you can stand, stand- 
ing before you can walk, and walking before you can 
run. 

But the majority of people, interested by what they 
have read, or heard, and, fired by a desire to see and 
converse with some departed friend again, apply to me for 
the address of a reliable medium to whom they can go, 
and are, doubtless, much disappointed when I tell them 



120 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

that^ on principle, I will recommend no one of them. The 
reason I answer them thus is, because I know that, if they 
rush, in their ignorant state of mind, to a public medium, 
they will, in all probability^ be disappointed of seeing any 
spirit whom they can recognize, and the result will be hurt- 
ful, both for Spiritualism and themselves. These are the 
people who, having rushed pell-mell to a public seance, and 
seen nothing to convince them of the truth, create, per- 
haps, an unseemly disturbance, or go about, afterwards, 
telling all their acquaintances that there is nothing in 
Spiritualism ; that Mr. So and So is a fraud ; that the 
forms they saw were living persons dressed up to imitate 
spirits, and they are convinced that the whole thing is 
humbug. So might they, with equal reason, in their anxiety 
to learn Greek, attend a lecture, given in that language, 
and declare, because they could not understand what was 
going on, that Greek w^as only a mass of unintelligible 
gibberish. To such people I do not address my instruc- 
tions, but to those who are grieving for the loss of friends 
so dear to them, that they would not meet them in a pub- 
lic seance room for all the world. Do not think, however, 
from my saying this, that I decry, or disbelieve in, the 
integrity of public seances, or the mediums who hold them. 
Many of my most convincing proofs have been given me in 
public, as I have frankly recorded. But that was long 
after private investigation had convinced me that what I 
saw was true. Public seances, in my opinion, are for 
Spiritualists, not for enquirers. There is more than one 
medium with whom, whenever I sit, I know beforehand 
which spirit friends will communicate with me, because 
they have come so often through the same source, that they 
experience no difficulty in doing so. But were a perfect 
stranger to sit beside me at those seances, he would probably 
see nothing to interest liim, and begin to suspect that I 



THE SPIRIT WOELD. 121 

must be one of the medium's confederates, because so many 
manifestations appeared for me. 

Most public seances are made up of sitters who attend 
regularly, night after night, and whose spirit friends have, 
in consequence, gained so much power, that they leave no 
opportunity for the friends of outsiders to manifest. This 
is why I invariably advise beginners not to attend public 
seances, but to begin by sitting at home. After they have 
gained some knowledge and proficiency of the science they 
are investigating, it is probable that their friends will name 
the medium through whom they wish to materialize and 
show themselves, in which case they wonld be right and 
wise to follow their wishes. 

Now, let me suppose that two or three friends are agreed 
on this subject ; that they all are sincerely interested in 
Spiritualism, and equally anxious to communicate with 
their departed friends, and I will tell them how to set 
about it. First, then, I advise you to read all you can 
upon the subject, and you cannot do better than begin with 
the Bible, that you may be able to confute the arguments 
of those who would try to turn you from your purpose, on 
the score of its being wrong. After which, you might go 
through a course of modern authors. There are innumer- 
able works published on Spiritualism ; a list of which you 
can procure from the ofiQces of the spiritualistic news- 
papers, or from '^Borderland." The authors who have 
interested me most, have been Robert Dale Oweii, Colonel 
Olcott, Alan Kardec, Edward Maitland, John Farmer, 
Epes Sargent, and Andrew Jackson Davis. Eead " Buddha 
and Early Buddhism,'' by Arthur Lillie ; "Footfalls on 
the Boundary of Another World,'' by E. Dale Owen ; 
" Mneteenth Century Miracles,'' by Emma Hardinge- 
Britten ; and " 'Twixt Two Worlds/'' by John Farmer. 
Take in Mr. Stead's magazine,, '' Borderland," where you 



122 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

will find, each month, a list of the articles that have ap- 
peared on Spiritualism, besides a library list, where you 
can procure more books, to read, on the subject than you 
will get through in half a lifetime. Get the newspapers, 
too, that are dedicated to it, "■ The Two Worlds,'^ " Light,'' 
and " The Medium,^' in which you will often find valuable 
information, and the addresses of certain mediums, with, 
notices of what meetings are held for Spiritualists, and 
what lectures delivered for them. 

And when you have learned all you can from the ex- 
perience of others, sit at home ; not desultorily, as I have 
said before, but regularly, and steadily. If there is a 
spare room in your house, which you can devote to the 
purpose, so much the better. It need not be a large 
room, and it need not have a fireplace, so long as it has 
a window. 

This is how " Dewdrop " described a perfect seance room 
to me: "It must have no carpet, no curtains, nor hangings 
of any kind, except a dark woolen curtain drawn across the 
window, so as to exclude the light. There should be no 
pictures on the wall, nor ornaments of any kind ; and the 
furniture should consist of a deal table, without a cloth on 
it, and as many chairs as are required must be cane-seated, 
so as to let the influence through. When you are not 
using the seance room, it must be kept locked, and no one 
allowed to enter it. The morning after you have held the 
seance, let the curtain be drawn back, the window thrown 
open, the table and chairs scrubbed with soap and water, 
then lock u]) the room till it is used again. Pure spirits 
will not come where there is dirt and dust. They cannot 
breathe in such an atmosphere. Keep your seance-room 
})erfectly clean, sweet and private, then you will get good 
manifestations.'' 

These rules are very simple, ami easily complied with. 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 123 

Investigators, who are in earnest, had better make a note 
of them. 

Many people place musical instruments in their seance 
rooms, and set a musical box going as soon as they sit 
down. I don't like this plan of making a noise, and I 
don't think that it is necessary, or that the spirits like it. 
It has had its meaning, not to drown (as many sceptics 
aver) the noise made by the medium, and his confederates, 
in dressing-up, but because the sound agitates the air, and 
keeps it moving, which is favorable to manifestation. This 
is better accomplished, however, by the sitters singing in 
harmony, for their united voices not only stir the atmos- 
phere, but the action of exercising them, throws off the 
aura from themselves, which the spirits use to work with. 
Only let it he in harmony. The terrible discord some- 
times produced by the efforts of people trying to sing 
together, who have never practiced doing so, is enough to 
drive the spirits, or mortals too, for that matter, to the 
furthest distance they can attain. This is a subject which, 
surely, might be taken a little trouble with. You would 
not like to make a fool of yourself before mortal company 
— why treat your spirit friends to such an exhibition? 
Surely, it would be worth while, before commencing your 
sittings, to select such quiet hymns, or songs, as you can 
all join in, and practice them until you are perfectly 
acquainted with both words and music. Loud singing is 
not what is required ; in fact, it is very undesirable, and I 
have, repeatedly, heard it stepped by the influences them- 
selves. What they want is low, sweet harmony, produced 
by all the sitters, simultaneously. Why is not our business 
to inquire ; if the spirits did not wish it, they would not 
demand it. And, here, let me caution you, if you want 
i successful seances, to follow just what you are told, in every 
1 1 particular, and you are sure to do right. 



124 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

When you have sat for a little while, some one spirit will 
probably take the control of your seances, and you must 
do just as he tells you. If he desires that certain sitters 
change their seats, they must do so ; if he says they are to 
leave the circle altogether, they must obey him, or the rest 
will suffer. And, in this matter of choosing your circle, 
you cannot always be guided by your own wishes, or the 
wishes of your friends. It is better to have a small 
number, at all events, at first, say four or six, and, as a 
rule, the sexes should be equal, and the constitutions 
opposite ; thus, if the circle consists of six persons, there 
should be three men and three women, and if three are 
fair, sanguineous temperaments, the other three should be 
dark, and calmer of disposition. I do not mean to assert 
that this rule is absolutely without deviation, or that a 
successful circle may not be made up where it is not 
entirely carried out ; but, as a rule, it should be attended 
to as far as possible. 

It does not follow, because a person is deeply interested 
in Spiritualism, or is very anxious to see, or speak to his 
departed friends again, that he is fit to sit in a circle, or 
in your particular circle, at any rate. It is a sad fact, but 
a fact, nevertlieless, that a very ardent desire to see a 
particular friend is often the very means which prevents 
the spirit manifesting, the excitement and agitation acting 
in some way, wliich I cannot explain to you, to prevent 
the materialization. This is the reason that, as a rule, 
spirits do not manifest for some time after death, or until 
tlie grief of tlie survivors has somewhat calmed down. 

When you have chosen your circle, therefore, do not be 
too sure that all will be allowed to continue in it; but your 
spirit friends will soon let you know their wishes on the 
subject. In selecting the sitters, you must make sure that 
they will sit rc(/ularJif, and not as it is convenient to them. 



THE SPIKIT WOELD. 125 

If they cannot promise to give np other engagements, or 
pleasures, for the sake of sitting, don^t admit them at all. 

Over and over again have people asked me to form a circle 
at my own home, and, for the sake of the cause, I have com- 
plied with their request ; but it has, invariably come to 
an untimely end from the same reason. The circle would 
meet, perhaps, two or three times, and then Mr. Jones 
would send an excuse because he was obliged to keep aa 
engagement, or Mrs. Brown had friends to dine with her,, 
or young Hoop-de-dooden-do was obliged to remain at 
home, because it was his sister's birthday. But they 
would all be sure to attend next time. Not with me, how- 
ever. I always made it a point, that the first defalcation 
(unless from illness) was the last, and the defaulter 
scratched off the list of sitters ; by which means the circle 
usually dwindled down to myself in about a month's time. 
That is why I think, when the circle can be kept strictly 
within the precincts of home, it is far better ; and I would 
rather break through the rule of having an equal number 
of each sex than depend on the punctual attendance of 
outsiders. I would rather sit with a sister, or a husband,, 
only, and keep the seance room sacred, as I have described, 
and the seances for certain days, than I would risk having 
the circle broken ; for each time that happens you will 
have to begin over again, from the beginning. 

But I will suppose that you have made up your little 
circle, and arranged your seance room, and practiced your 
hymns or songs, then the next thing is to fix the day and 
hour of sitting, and stich to it, Avhether it be one evening 
a week, or two evenings ; whether it is to be at seven 
o'clock or eight ; do not vary it, if possible, by so much as 
a minute. If you have a guitar, you might bring it into 
the room ; and rolls of stiff paper, gummed into the form 
of a trumpet, are very useful for speaking tubes, through 



126 THE SPIRIT AVORLD. 

which you may hear the direct voice of your friends. 
Sheets of notepaper, and pencils also, should always be at 
hand, in case any spirit present may be able to write to 
you, instead of speaking. 

And now, supj^osing all things to be in readiness, you, 
and your party, enter the seance room at the appointed 
time, lock the door after you, close the window, draw the 
curtain over it, and take your seats round the table, on 
which you have placed a candle and box of matches, in 
case of need. Some people join hands when they sit. This 
is not necessary, except as an evidence of good faith, and 
to prove that no one is attempting to hoax his neighbor. 
Still, at the beginning, it is as well, perhaps, to do so, in 
case anything startling occurs, that everybody present may 
be convinced that it is not a trick. You may have to sit 
for some time before anything takes place ; you might 
have to sit for many evenings before you heard even a 
little tap upon the table ; but, if you are hot prepared to 
persevere, you had better not begin at all. It is very un- 
likely, indeed, that notJiing icill ever occur ; I have never 
heard of such a case, but it may be some time first. When 
the first tap sounds on the table, or the first tilt, or up- 
heaval occurs, don't let there be any screaming, or hurry, 
or agitation about it. Let each one of the circle ask, 
quietly, and in regular turn, "Is that for me?" and when 
the right j^erson puts the question, the table will usually 
repeat the signal. Often it hajipens that the spirit comes 
for no one in particular, but for the circle, so that, if it 
responds to no one, that question may next be put. The 
great thing, however, is to establish the communication ; 
after tliat things generally go on swimmingly. You must 
talk to the tapper just as though you were addressing a 
mortal, only be calm and deliberate, or the influence may 
not hear vou distinotlv. The usual rule is to tell the com- 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 127 

municating spirit, if lie is going to speak to you through 
the table, that you want him to tap once for " 'No/' twice 
when he is uncertain, and three times for " Yes "; also that, 
in spelling out any communication he may wish to make, 
you will repeat the alphabet and he must tap, or tilt, when 
you come to the right letter. The first thing you will, 
naturally, ask, is his name, and for this purpose repeat the 
alphabet very slowly, for the way spirits rap is by throwing 
the magnetism they gather from the circle down on the 
table, where it explodes like detonating powder, so that 
they require a little time to make their preparations. If, 
when repeating the alphabet, 3^ou hear several raps in suc- 
cession, it is generally meant to intimate that the spirit 
has missed the letter, and you will have to begin over 
again. This method of communication, which appears 
very tedious on first trial, becomes rapid by practice, so 
that I can converse, by its means, almost as fast as I can 
by word of mouth. 

But, should there prove to be a medium amongst you, 
you will soon blossom out into better forms of communica- 
tion, and leave the poor table far behind you. With re- 
gard to mediums, there are many more in the world than 
people think for, and there are very few circles of six persons 
which you could call together without finding one in their 
midst. 

Some of your friends may suddenly develop trance- 
mediumship, or go under control, or hands may touch you 
in the dark, or the paper tubes be rattled about, or the 
guitar strings touched and sounded. Now, if any of these 
things happen, don't be frightened, because there is nothing 
to be alarmed at. 

Spirits cannot hurt you, even if they were so disposed, 
and, though I admit that powerful manifestations, when 
first witnessed, are awe-inspiring, you must pass through a 



128 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

certain baptism in order to obtain that for which you have 
assembled together. Should one of your sitters, therefore, 
commence suddenly to talk in a strange voice, or an un- 
known tongue, leave him quite alone until he has finished 
what he may have to say. He will come to no harm; but 
if you were to interfere^ by trying to rouse him, or by 
letting in the light upon him, you might do him a serious 
injury. Or some one may go under control, i. e.y he may ap- 
pear to fall into a deep sleep, as if he were dead. Don't 
attempt to wake him ! The spirits will probably make use 
of him, whilst in this condition, to give the circle some 
manifestations, and they will take care of him and bring 
him back at the right time. 

The direct voice is when the spirits speak to you with a 
thorax and gullet of their own, instead of using the organs 
of speech of a medium. This is one of the manifestations 
I love best. I think it is more satisfactory even than see- 
ing our departed friends, because, when spirits are ma- 
terialized, so much power has been exhausted in order to 
build up their bodies, that they seldom talk much. But to 
be able to ask them questions, and to receive their an- 
swers, is most satisfactory. You will be very lucky if you 
procure such a manifestation. There are a dozen different 
ways by which your spirit friends can give you proofs of 
their presence amongst you, before they show themselves. 
They may bring articles from other rooms in the house, 
and place them on the table ; pick flowers from your gar- 
den, or other people's gardens, and put them in your 
lajo ; you may hear tlieir feet pacing up and down the floor, 
or see tlie spirit lights floating about tlie room. These 
are, sometimes, like tiny stars, and, sometimes, like eggs 
in shape, or little comets with a tail. You may have 
sweet scent thrown over you — a very common manifesta- 
tion — or you may feel your chairs pulled backwards, OFj^ 



THE SPIKIT WORLD. 129 

sometimes, taken right away from under you. Some one 
amongst you may develop writing-mediumship, which, is 
generally evidenced by a convulsive shuddering in the 
right arm, accompanied by a species of electric shock run- 
ning up it. In such a case, place writing paper before the 
person, and a pencil in his hand, and you may get spirit 
communications through him. Only a few weeks back, 
sitting alone with a friend, with her hands held fast in 
mine, I got five letters written by different spirits, in the 
space of four minutes, each one in a diiferent handwriting. 
If there should be a powerful physical medium amongst 
you, you may even get levitation, i. e., the medium may be 
carried away from the table, chair and all ; in some instances, 
up to the ceiling, so that he can touch it with his finger. 
Should this occur, don't jump up from the table, nor break 
the circle ; if you are holding hands, do not unloose them, 
but wait, patiently, till your friend descends to the floor 
again. The spirits know perfectly well what they are 
about, and will bring him back quite safely, if you will 
let them do so in their own way. But if you loose hands, 
or make a- commotion, you will break the chain of aura 
through which they are working, and, as likely as not, 
cause him to be thrown, or let fall, violently to the 
ground. I believe, if you set about your investigations in 
the manner I have mentioned, that, in nine cases out of 
ten, your efforts will be crowned with success. 

There are, of course, a number of phases of Spiritualism 
which you may never be able to enjoy in a private circle, 
because they are more rare ; yet, I believe, it only needs 
perseverance to experience most of them : Levitation, the 
direct voice, trance-mediumship, automatic writing, direct 
writing, clairvoyance, healing-mediumship, prophecy, ma- 
terialization, spirit-photography, and inspirational speak- 
\ ing, are grand gifts, and not within the scope of every- 



130 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

body. Yet, I believe, we are all mediums, in some way or 
another, and it is impossible to say wliat we may, or may 
not, develop, until we have tried it. 

If, after a reasonable trial, you find you can procure no 
manifestations (which, I think, is very unlikely), or that 
your progress is tediously slow, you might procure the ad- 
dress of a reliable medium, and engage him to sit imtli you 
at your oivn home. Very often, the presence of a fully de- 
veloped medium calls forth the latent powers of a circle, 
sets them going, as it were, and gives an impetus to their 
efforts. 

Some mediums are particularly happy in developing 
others, so that one or two sittings with them will prove 
what the circle is worth. The presence of a good medium 
in your seance room, also, will permeate it with its influ- 
ence and that of his controls, and prepare it (as it were) 
for the operations of your own spirits. 

Beginners in Spiritualism are often both surprised and 
disappointed, because spirits, who are either perfect 
strangers to them, or acquaintances in whom they have 
taken no interest, manifest, while their own beloved friends 
do not come at all. 

I know how disappointing this is, for I have experienced 
it myself. 

When I commenced my investigations, a certain spirit 
called Priddis, who had been the gardener of an old friend, 
but almost unknown to myself, used to visit me contin- 
ously, and, sometimes, to my annoyance, because I thought 
lie kept other spirits, whom I shoukl rather have commu- 
nicated with, away. But, through his means, I found out, 
afterwards, many of my friends were enabled to approach 
me, who otherwise might not have been able to do so, and 
when liis work was done, Priddis disappeared, and I have 
neither heard, nor seen anything of him since. 



THE SPIRIT AVORLD. 131 

There is another caution I should like to give to tyros in 
Spiritualism. Never attempt, by persuasion, or prayers to 
the Almighty, or earnest entreaty, to invoke spirits who 
have not come to you of their own accord. Spirits can 
only visit us as they obtain permission from God, and we 
should take them as they come, not thinking so much of 
who they may be, as of the fact that their reappearance on 
this earth demonstrates the truth that we live forever. 

I have seen the evil effects of a persistent appeal for the 
reappearance of a particular spirit until the prayer was an- 
swered, as prayers sometimes are, for the destruction of the 
suppliant. 

When I first became interested in Spiritualism, and, in 
my ignorance of the subject, was apt to sit with any 
one who asked me to do so, a young man, called Charlie 

H , whom I must not designate more particularly, for 

the sake of his friends, used to frequently join our circle. 
His father was a tutor, and amongst his pupils had been a 
young man of the name of Edward Ogilvie, to whom 
Charlie and his brothers and sisters had been, as chil- 
dren, much attached. Mr. Ogilvie had long before drunk 
himself to death, but Charlie H cherished a great affec- 
tion for him, and never sat without asking some of the com- 
municating spirits to fetch his friend to speak to him. 
One evening, the name Ogilvie was rapped out, and we 
thought he had come. It proved, however, to be the spirit 
of William Ogilvie, a cousin to Edward, who manifested 

for the sole reason of begging Charlie H not to try and 

recall the spirit of his friend, as it was not fit to visit earth, 
without danger to itself and to him. Charlie, however, 
would not be advised, and continued to entreat that 
Edward might be allowed to return, if only for once. At 
last he came, and continued to come for some little time. 
I observed, however, that, directly Edward appeared, 



132 THE SPIRIT WOELD. 

Charlie would fall across the table in a deep sleep, so that 
he did not derive much benefit from his friend's commu- 
nications. But, from that time, from having been a sober, 
well-conducted young man, Charlie H became so care- 
less, that three times during the ensuing season I was com- 
pelled to warn him that, if he took so much liquor at my 
house, I should leave off inviting him to come there. He 
made one or two faint efforts to shake off the influence 
that was creeping so fatally over him; but without success, 
and in the course of a few years he, too, had drunk himself 
into an early grave. This case always recurs to my mind 
when I hear people entreat for certain spirits to be allowed 
to manifest. 

We are not the best judges of who should, or who should 
not, come back to us. I would receive every spirit, who 
wished to communicate with me, with attention and respect; 
but once I found them to have been careless livers whilst 
on earth, I would be very careful how I encouraged them 
to return. And, here, let me say a word as to the spirits 
with whom you hold converse. Remember that, in dealing 
with them, you are dealing with mortals who have only 
cast off their mortality and retained that portion of them- 
selves by which they could have done you most harm whilst 
here below, i. e., the spirit, intact. Don't fall into the ab- 
surd error that, directly a spirit is loosed from the body, it 
becomes purified and angelic. Most of those who return 
to this earth, or who have never left it, are far more mortal 
tlian spiritual ; have passed over, indeed, with so much 
more humanity than spirituality in their composition that 
they are almost as gross and carnal as they were whilst on 
this earth. 

Never hold communication with any spirit who refuses 
to give you liis name. I^e assured, in that case, that he is 
ashamed of it, or wishes to pretend to you that he is other 



THE SPIRIT WOELD. 133 

than he is. " Try the spirits whether they be of God." 
And, should they talk frivolously, or wickedly, have noth- 
ing 7nore io do with them. If they refuse to leave the 
table, get up and leave it yourself. They will soon under- 
stand it is useless attempting to gull you. Don^t imagine, 
because they may swear or abuse you, that they must be, 
necessarily, emissaries of the devil. They are no more so 
than the men you meet sometimes in this world — half- 
brutalized, blaspheming sinners, who hate every one who 
tries to be a little better than themselves. If you were 
thrown in the society of such men in this life, you might 
be tempted to try and do them a little good. In like man- 
ner, you may often do the poor spirits good, by helping 
them to wish for better things ; hut not when yon are first 
commencing to investigate Spiritualism — not until your 
higher controls have taken possession of your circle, and 
cast their protection around it, and are able to keep evil 
influences from coming too near you. If these careless 
spirits got the ascendancy first, they might never give it 
up again. You cannot be too particular on this subject. 
And the way to protect yourselves is to commit your little 
circle to the protection of God, and ask him not to allow 
any spirit to approach you, but such as will do you good, 
instead of evil. 

At the period I have before alluded to, when I knew 
but little of such matters, and was in the habit of sitting, 
without respect to the surroundings of the sitters, a great 
many young men " about town " used to drop in for a 
seance. But, after a while, I found they brought the 
spirits of so many "unfortunates" in their train, that my 
table was literally infested with them. They came for 
nothing, apparently, but to ask me to pray for them ; but 
they almost excluded every spirit of a higher condition 
from my table. This is not to be wondered at, when one 



134 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

remembers that each, one of ns is surrounded by a band of 
influences, not only those who have been given the charge 
of us, but such as have been attracted to us by a similarity 
of taste and living. The spirits of drunkards congregate 
round the man who, spite of all warning, insists upon 
killing himself by indulgence in his fatal habit ; because 
they dei'ive some slight pleasure from the refraction of his 
sensuality ; and their influence, unconsciously acting upon 
him, drives him on and on, until he has lost all restraint 
over himself. How well this theory is demonstrated in the 
following parable : 

^^When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he 
walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none; 
then he saith : ' I will return into my house, from whence 
I came out ' ; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, 
swept and garnished. Then goeth he and taketh unto 
himself seven other spirits, more wicked than himself, and 
they enter in and dwell there, and the last state of that 
man is worse than the first." 

So that we cannot be too careful with whom we hold 
converse, in the body or out. I had a most interesting 
conversation with my old friend, John King, the other day 
on this subject. For the benefit of such of my readers 
who may never have heard of John King, I may say that 
he is the father of the celebrated Katie King, who used to 
appear so regularly, at one time, through Florence Cook 
(now Mrs. Elgie Corner). The name adopted by both 
father and daughter is assumed, John King's real name 
being Sir Henry I)e Morgan, and his daughter's, Annie 
Owen De Morgan. Sir Henry was a buccaneer, or pirate, who 
lived during the reign of Charles tlie First, and through part 
of that of Cromwell. He was a bold sea-rover ; aiul, after 
an exciting career, was executed for treason, on the high 
seas. But, whatever he may liave been whilst on earthy 



THE SPIKIT WORLD. 135 

he appears to liave entirely expiated his sins now, and to 
have become one of the best and kindest of spirits, always 
working for the good of others. I have known him 
through AVilliams, and Heme, and Eglinton, and Husk, 
and always the same in voice and feature and general kind- 
heartedness. I derived great pleasure, a short time back, 
by receiving, through the goodness of M. James Tissot, the 
French artist, a lovely engraving of his picture, entitled 
" L^ Apparition Mediumistique.^^ The painting represents 
M. Tissot's first wife, supported by John King, as he pre- 
fers to be called. M. Tissot sat with William Eglinton, 
when on a visit to London, and was so charmed by the 
appearance of his first wife, to whom he was tenderly at- 
tached, that he invited Mr. Eglinton over to Paris, and, 
whilst there, he painted, from their materialized forms, 
the portraits of both Madame Tissot and John King. The 
oil painting was, I understand, exhibited in the Paris 
• Salon, and a favored few of M. Tissot's friends have re- 
ceived an engraving of it. I am proud to number myself 
amongst them, and the engraving has a double value for 
me, not only as a memento of the giver, but because the 
portrait of John King is exactly as he has appeared to me, 
through each one of the mediums I have named. It repre- 
sents him as an exceedingly handsome man, of about forty, 
with high-bred Jewish features, and a most benevolent 
cast of countenance. He appears as though supporting 
Madame Tissot, or encouraging her to come forward. Both 
hold a spirit light, of the size and shape of an egg, in their 
hands, and, whilst the young woman is looking up shyly, 
John King glances down with a sort of patronizing, or 
paternal, air upon her. I prize this engraving more than 
any other spiritualistic memento I possess. John King 
told me that I could have no idea of the large number of 
spirits it took in order to make one seance a success. " I 



136 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

have, at this moment/' he said, ^'a band, or cordon of spir- 
its surrounding this house, of perhaps a quarter of a mile 
in width, and, beyond them, I have stationed my out-posts 
and pickets to give the alarm, if necessary." " The alarm 
for what, John?'' I asked. "In case any malevolent spir- 
its should try to approach the circle I They would do so, 
soon enough, if they had the opportunity. Perhaps it will 
astonish you to hear that there is more opposition in the 
spheres against Spiritualism than there is on this plane. 
Many spirits consider that I, and others like me, are wrong 
to visit this earth after we have left it. They say we cannot 
do so without carrying back a taint of mortality when we 
return, to the detriment of those who dwell in the spheres.' 
This was an entirely new idea to me, but I saw the force 
of it, from my own small experience. The other world is 
very much like this one. Men do not immediately part 
with their prejudices there, any more than with their follies 
and vices. If Jones was a liar whilst upon earth, don't 
swallow everything he may tell you, when he returns here; 
for, rest assured that, by the time his spirit has been thor- 
oughly purged of its worldly wickedness, it will have soared 
too high to return, except as a preacher, to his fellow-men. 
But, for my own part, I should be dubious of believing 
him to the end of time. So be wary. See all you can, and 
hear all you can, and weigh the proofs of sincerity in a 
nicely adjusted balance. But if your spirituality is in 
yourself; if you are sincere and circumspect, Jones (and 
such as Jones) will not come near you; or if your acquaint- 
ances leave them behind them (as mine did), they will 
cleave to you only so long as you encourage them to do so. 
I got rid, during my earliest experiences, of a very unpleas- 
ant spirit who used to annoy us with his language and 
sentiment, by simply leaving the table whenever he ap- 
peared. He used to attempt to disguise himself by assum- 



THE SPIKIT WORLD. 137 

ing false names, and pretending to be extremely pious, but 
we always found him out in the end and instantly broke 
up the seance. When he found we were in earnest and 
kept to our word, he took himself off, and, for years, I have 
heard nothing of him. Treat all careless, " larking " and 
low-minded spirits in the same fashion, and they will not 
trouble you long. But the surest remedy is to see that no 
careless, or ungodly, person joins your circle. Keep your 
seance room free from all bad, earthly influences, and the 
spiritual ones will not come near you. 



138 



CHAPTEE VII. 

WHAT SPIRITS HAVE SAID TO ME. 

Many people have asked me the question : " But what 
do the spirits tell you about the place they live in ? What 
are their dwellings like? Do they sleep and eat and drink 
like mortals? Have they any employment? In fact, what 
is the next world like ? " One of my correspondents has 
gone so far as to tell me, not too politely, that if my 
spirits cannot answer such questions, to gratify the 
curiosity of man, they are no good at all. I am saying the 
same thing over and over again ; still, it seems necessary, 
once more, to repeat that the use of Spiritualism is to 
demonstrate that there is another world, not to make us so 
excited by a description of it, as to cause us, perhaps, to 
lose half our interest in this one. " If they can^t do that, 
they can do nothing ! ^' says one sceptic, rudely. I never 
supposed that they could not do it. That they may not 
be 2)ermitted to do it (for reasons into which we cannot 
enter), is a much more likely theory. How much of the 
mysteries of another world did Christ reveal to His 
disciples, and the people lie preached to? Positively 
nothing! lie mentioned it constantly, but he never gave 
any description of its joys or pleasures ; of what they were 
to consist, or with whom partaken. The only allusion to 
the happiness of Heaven in the Scriptures is in the text : 
" Eye liath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered 
into the heart of man, the things which God hath pre- 
])ared for them who love Him." If* the disciples were left 
without a more particular knowledge of the glories of 




THE SPIRIT WORLD. 139 

Heaven, why should we, degenerate mortals, expect to en- 
joy a further revelation? And, again, you may hold con- 
verse with a dozen spirits and each one may come from 
a different sphere. "In my Father's house are many 
mansions ; if it were not so, I would have told you." The 
spirits which come from the lower spheres, know ho more 
than ourselves, with the exception of the blessed truth, 
that there is no death. They smile at our innate fear of 
death ; for, though, with them, to ascend to a higher sphere 
entails a sleep-like death, having once passed through it, 
they think no more of it than we do of lying down in our 
beds after a long day's work. Of course, it is not likely 
that I should have had so many opportunities of convers- 
ing with spirits without putting questions to them about 
their lives in the other world, and what they do there, etc. 
I have sat for hours, sometimes, talking with them, through 
trance-mediumship, on all sorts of subjects ; but, as I did 
not take shorthand notes at the time, it is as difficult to 
remember all that we said to each other as it would be to 
recall the conversations I have had with my fellow-mortals. 
As with all friendly converse, however, if we cannot 
remember the exact words used, the effect of the com- 
munication remains on our memory : so my mind is imbued 
with spiritual ideas and revelations, though I could not 
transcribe them, word for word. But they have, mostly, 
been explanations of God's dealings with men, and the 
punishments we bring on ourselves by wilful sin, and very 
seldom descriptions of the spirits' dwelling-place. It seems 
to me, as if this revealing of trivialties were either forbidden 
or disapproved of. For, were it all deception, how easy it 
would be for them to invent a picture of perfect happi- 
ness. But, from all I have gathered at various times, I 
have never heard one word that differed from the Bible 
teaching, nor one that did not promise a purgatory for 



140 THE SPIKIT WORLD. 

those who do not love God, and peace for those who do. 
I was speaking to a spirit called Aimee, once, on the im- 
portance or non-importance of creeds. We were sitting 
either side of a small, round table, at the time, and Aimee 
put her hand on the center of it. 

"Creeds,^^ she said ; "creeds are some of the wickedest 
things on earth. They have caused more bloodshed, and 
wrangling, and hatred, and wrong, than all the wicked 
people put together. Do you suppose there will be any 
creeds in the spheres? Do you think they will ask, when 
men go over there, if they are Jews, or Catholics, or 
Protestants? ISTot a bit of it! They will be judged by 
only one standard: Have they tried to love God and their 
fellow-men ? If they have been cruel to them, they have 
been cruel to God. It will be no excuse that they did it 
for the sake of religion. They will be told that such 
religion is a lie. Here is God," she continued, putting her 
finger on the center of the table ; " some of you crawl 
round the table before you reach Him ; some take a short 
cut right across ; others lose their way, and wander about 
as if they were in a labyrinth. But what does it matter, 
do you think, so long as they get to Him at last? God 
looks down and laughs at your creeds. He would rather 
see a man, who never goes to church, share his crust with 
some one who wanted it worse than himself, than hear 
all the prayers of all the churches." 

" Shall we all get to Him at last, Aimee ? " I asked. 

" Most certainly you will. It may be a long ' at last ' for 
some — thousands and thousands of years, perhaps, I can- 
not tell — but no one can ever be lost forever, as your 
parsons say, and I'll tell you why : When God created 
man. Ho breathed into him the breath of life, and ' man 
became a living soul.' So, you see, man's soul is the 
breath of God, part of the life of God, and part of God'j 






THE SPIRIT WORLD. 141 

life can never be damned forever. There^s where the 
parsons make such a mistake ; a big mistake, that they 
will have to correct some day. They will have to — what 
do you call it in English ? — eat their oivn words. They 
have put words into the Bible that were never there. They 
tell people that God created man to be good and happy ; 
that He intended him to live on this earth forever, but 
that his own disobedience upset everything. Then, if this 
is true, God's designs turned out a failure. Don't you 
see that, if you designed a piece of work to be straight, 
and it turned out crooked, people would say you did not 
know what you were about, and your work was a failure. 
God's work can't be a failure ; so, if He meant men and 
women to be happy and good, they tuill be happy and 
good, though they may delay the accomplishment of God's 
perfect work for a little time. But God's breath in hell — 
the only part of man that lives forever, to live in hell — 
that is rubbish, believe me. The parsons tell you, too, 
that Christ died for all men, the just and the unjust, that 
they might be saved. If that is so, then, if one man only 
is not saved, Christ's death was a failure. But the people 
who preach about Him never seem to see the discrepancies 
in their teachings. If God were a man, of course, an 
occasional failure would only be natural ; but, since He is 
omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, a failure must 
be impossible with Him, especially one that involved all 
creation. It is a terrible, a wicked idea, to instill into men's 
minds, that God would condemn the creatures He made, 
and loves, to everlasting punishment. What is the good of 
a punishment, unless it is to teach people to do better in 
the future ? How can a punishment that lasts forever give 
any one an opportunity of doing better ? What would be 
the use of repenting ? It would be needless torture. God 
is not a fiend like that — He is your loving Father." 



142 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

'^ Are you very happy, Aimee ? Do not you, sometimes, 
wish to return to earth, since you left it so early ? '^ 

'^ Never ! I would not return, if I could. I am sorry 

for poor A " (naming the man she was engaged to 

he married to). " But, after all, it was for his good that I 
was taken away, and I can watch over him better now than 
I ever could have done in this life. You want me to tell you 
about my present home. There is nothing to tell. I am 
a little nurse-maid, that is all. I am in the sphere where 
all the little babies, who die before they know right from 
wrong, come, and I look after them. Your daughter, 
[Florence, is in the same sphere. She came here when she 
passed over, and we are great friends.'^ 

" How many babies do you have to look after at a time, 
Aimee ? '' 

" Four or five. Just now I have a poor, little boy under 
my charge, who was burned to death. He cannot forget 
the pain yet. It was so terrible.'^ 

" Do you eat and drink in your sphere, Aimee ; and 
what do you wear ? And do you ever sleep ? '' 

*' What a lot of questions you ask at a time. But I am 
not sure if I may answer them all. Yes, we eat and drink ; 
but not the same sort of things that you do. We can 
clothe ourselves with our thoughts ; i. e., anything which 
we may think of appejirs upon us ; that is why spirits, that 
yisit their friends after deatli, often seem to be wearing the 
clothes they did whilst on earth. Because, in thinking of 
returning, they have thought, perhaps, of the last time 
they saw the friend they wish to visit, and so the clothes 
they wore then appear with them. As to sleei)iiig, we rest, 
but we do not sleep as you do — we do not lose consciousness. 
AVe have the power to stop all brain action at will, so that 
a perfect rest ensues, though we know what is going on 
around us the while." 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 143 

'' Dewdrop " has never been very confidential with, re- 
gard to her spiritual surroundings. She has told me that 
she lives in a wigwam, with her mate, The West Wind. 
She has described him as a very handsome " brave/' young, 
and very much attached to her ; but, though Dewdrop is 
so very open on other subjects, calling a " spade a spade/' 
without the slightest ceremony, I have observed a remark- 
able reticence in her whenever she approaches the subject 
of her affections. She scorns the idea of letting The West 
Wind visit this sphere, or showing himself to mortals. 
When I remarked to her, on one occasion : " But you can- 
not marry in the spheres, as we do on earth ? " her answer 
was : " What is the best part of your earth marriages ? Isn't 
it when, at some moment, you seem suddenly to realize 
the truth that the man you love is really one with your- 
self — one in heart and soul and body ? I know it's very, very 
seldom that it happens in earth life ; but it does, some- 
times, and then you feel it is worth all the rest put to- 
gether, and a glad conviction enters your soul that you will 
have love forever, and ever, and ever. That's what our 
marriages are like — the very best part of yours, the very 
cream of it." 

When I lost my eldest daughter, my grief was very ter- 
rible at first, and I Avas in despair for some time after- 
wards. I neither saw, nor heard, anything of her, and 
Dewdrop's efforts to console me I shall never forget. 

"Look here, Florence," she would say, "you mustn't 
fret after Eva like this. You mustn't fancy, because you 
don't see her yet, that God is angry with you or her. Now, 
let me tell you ; it's just this way : When Eva was a little 
child, you always loved her too much to hurt her ; but, if 
she was disobedient, or naughty, in any way, you used to 
" say : ' Now, my child, you have forgotten what I said to 
you again. I don't want to whip you, because I love you 



144 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

too much ; but I must make you remember what I say, so 
just go into that corner, and stay there till I give you leave 
to come out/ That's what God has done with her. Eva 
was what the world calls a good woman ; but she often did 
things she knew were wrong, as we all do, and so God has 
put her m the corner , to make her rememher. She wants to 
come back, and see you, and her sisters, and her children ; 
but He says : ' Not yet ; when you have learned the lesson 
I design to teach you, then you shall go." '' 

" Is she quite happy, Dewdrop ? '^ 

" Not yet ; but she is not in pain, and she is not un- 
happy. I often see her. I can do so now. She is in a 
large garden, quite alone, sitting under a tree, with her 
baby in her arms. Her hair is loose ; it falls down to her 
knees. She is very thoughtful. She is thinking of you, 
and her life whilst here ; but she knows that, some day, 
you will all be together again. And she will come back to 
you whilst you are on this earth '' (which prophecy has al- 
ready been fulfilled). 

Every description given to me by spirits of God's deal- 
ings with men has been so touching, so merciful, so fatherly 
and just, so unlike the dreadful hell-fire and pitchfork 
teachings of this world. A general theory with them ap- 
pears to be that of expiation — that whatever sins we have 
committed in the flesh we shall have to undo again when 
we pass over. Once, when speaking of a relative whom I 
very much dislike, I said : '' I hope to goodness I shall 
never meet him again in the other world," and the answer 
was : " On the contrary, he will, in all probability, be the 
very companion chosen for you on entering spiritual ex- 
istence. You will be compelled to live with him, until 
you have discovered all his virtues and your own faults, 
and see how much bettor lie would have been, if you had 
known how to be his friend, instead of his enemy." 



A; 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 145 

Aimee, in speaking of future punishment, once said to 
me : 

" If you were teaching your little girl how to sew, and 
she brought you her daily task, carelessly done, with gob- 
bled stitches and dirty thread, what should you do? '^ 

" I should tell her to unpick, and do it all over again,"' 
I replied. 

" Now, youVe got at the very root of the matter. That 
is how God deals with us. He makes us unpicJc our lives, 
and do them all over again. '" 

And, in support of this argument, a very striking in- 
cident happened, under my cognizance, but lately. A 
young relative of mine, called Annie, who was a married 
woman, with a large family of little children, had deter- 
mined, in her own mind, that she would not have any more 
babies. There was some excuse for her, as her husband 
was not able to support them, and they were becoming a 
source of serious difficulty to her. So, when she found 
she was likely again to become a mother, she was rash 
enough to adopt some one of the various remedies sug- 
gested for such difficulties, with the result that she lost her 
own life, as well as that of her expected child. For some 
time after her death, she was described to me as being in 
a state of great melancholy, if not of suffering, and, more 
than once, I was told that, till she had expiated the sin of 
destroying her own child, by preserving the life of another, 
she would not be free to progress. Last year, I had a bride 
and bridegroom staying, for a few weeks, in my house, the 
bride having been a warm and intimate friend of the 
young relative I allude to. One evening, when Mrs. 
Russell Davis was at my house, the young couple also 
being present, she was, unexpectedly, entranced, and the 
voice of Annie, who had never manifested before, was 
heard uttering, with some difficulty, the words: 



146 THE SPIRIT WOELD. 

" Tell Mary— not— to do— as I did/' 

That was all. As the voice ceased, the manifestation 
ended, and the medium returned to her normal condition. 
Naturally, I could not say anything that night. But the 
next morning, as I walked with Mary, alone, in the gar- 
den, I introduced the subject as delicately as I could, and 
found out that she was in precisely the same position as 
my poor, young friend had been — with the prospect of be- 
coming a mother, and hazarding her life to prevent it. 
When I entreated her to let matters take their course, the 
excuse was the one I have heard so often before. " But we 
can't afford to have a family," etc., etc. However, after 
some amount of argument and pleading, she gave in^ and 
promised me that she would not do anything more to prevent 
what was before her. Soon afterwards, she and her hus- 
band left my house, and I only saw Mary at intervals. 
" Dewdrop " and " Ned '' and " Florence '' were very busy 
that summer, they told me, as they had to travel some dis- 
tance every evening, in order to magnetize Mary to sleep, 
as she was suffering from insomnia. 

" Why do you take such an interest in Mary VI asked. 

"' Because, if her child is born strong and well, Annie's 
child will be taken out of her arms and given to another 
spirit to nurse for her." 

*' Do you mean to say that she has carried it in her arms 
all this time ? " (It was six years since Annie had passed 
over.) 

" Always ! She has never been allowed to put it down 
for a single moment. That was her penance : to look at 
the face of the baby she destroyed, every moment of her 
existence. But she lias saved Mary's baby, and the minute 
its earthly life commences, her penance will be over." 

Mary's baby was expected to arrive about the middle of 
December, but no one knew any further. On the evening 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 147 

of the 22d, I was sitting with Mrs. Russell Davis, and en- 
joying the manifestation of various direct voices, when I 
heard that of Annie, addressing me : 

'^ 0, thank God with me ! " she exclaimed, " thank God 
with me ! " 

" What for, Annie VI asked. 

" I am free — I am free — I am free ! " she replied, each 
sentence rising in crescendo, till she spoke as loud as she 
could. 

The next morning I received a telegram to say that 
Mary's baby had been born at five o'clock the previous 
afternoon, a fine, strong, healthy boy, as he has continued 
ever since. Since that time, Annie has manifested far more 
frequently than she ever did before, and tells me she is 
free to visit the little children she left behind her, without 
a mother's care. 

Florence has tried hard to describe her home in the 
spiritual sphere to me, but says that our language lacks 
words to express half she wants to say. In America, it may 
be remembered, she spoke of her " fields of roses," which 
she felt powerless to describe farther ; of the " blue flowers " 
(typical of happiness) which she and I were to pluck to- 
gether, and of the white " lilies " with which she always 
seemed surrounded. She has told me, since, that she will 
not leave her present sphere (although she might be in a 
much higher one) until I join her there; for, that our spirits 
are so closely united, one cannot rise without the other. 
Once she attempted to make me realize her spiritual home, 
but added that spiritual habitations changed with the will 
of the inhabitant. The house she was returning to, on 
that occasion, was entirely built of roses. She said the 
walls were made of the heads of every kind of roses piled 
up and " squashed together." But she has lived in houses 
which looked like alabaster, and others, like clear stones. 



148 THE SPIRIT AVORLD. 

Mrs. Russell Davis^ little daughter Mab, it may be re- 
membered, cried because she could not have a frock like 
" Mrs. Lean's girl/' by which she meant my Gertie. When 
asked to described the frock she so much coveted, she 
said it was all " white and clear, with gold flowers moving 
about it as if they were alive and something red under- 
neath them.^^ 

Florence has always been so clairvoyantly robed in white, 
with blue flowers in her hair and bosom. Gertie herself 
told me, on the memorable occasion so ridiculed by the 
editor of *' Truth," that she wore a frock and sash, and 
when her brother Francis " chevied '^ her round the foun- 
tain, he pushed her under the " silver water " and it wetted 
her sash. I asked her how she got her frock and sash, and 
what they were like, and she said that Florence gave them 
to her ; that her frock was " like cobwebs, and her sash 
like flowers." The higher spirits are all dressed in white. 
Dark or dull colors appear to indicate an earth-bound, or 
unhappy condition. 

Phyllis G , an actress, with whom I was, at one 

time, intimate, has told me that the sphere, in which she 
was first located, was too awful for description. She said it 
was a country, without verdure, or water, or light. That it 
was always dusk, and tlie ground was composed of cinders, 
so that walking was painful, and the spirits, for the most 
part, crawled about it on their knees. Phyllis had been 
worse than careless during her lifetime, but it shocked me 
to hear she was undergoing such a penalty. I asked her 
what sort of people she was associated witli, and the answer 
was : " The worst possible ; murderers and thieves." 

" But, Phyllis," I exclaimed, " what aflinity luid you with 
such as these ? " 

" I was a liar," she replied, "and there cannot be a worse 
sin than tliat of liabitual lying. If a man can descend to 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 149 

lying, he will stop at nothing. It is only our fellow-men 
whom we fear. We let God see what we hide from them.'^ 
This spirit had indulged in the fatal habit of drinking 
whilst on earth, and her agony, when wine or beer was on 
the table, or in the room, to find she could no longer in- 
dulge in it, was terrible to listen to. I have heard people 
say that, since Spiritualism gives a denial to the old world 
doctrine of eternal damnation, it must have a bad eifect on 
the minds of sinners; since, if the universal belief was that 
everybody would, eventually, be happy, no one would try 
to be saved from the beginning. This is a gross error. I 
have never imagined a more dreadful hell than the spirits 
have described to me : Truly, the " worm that dieth not, i 
and the fire that is not quenched." Fancy every wrong 
word we utter being spoken into the phonograph to be re- 
produced to endless ages ; every wrong act we commit be- 
ing photographed and preserved for the contemplation of 
posterity ; and then fancy the utterers of those words, the 
doers of those deeds, being compelled to walk through a 
gallery of their own misdoings, whilst their blasphemies and 
obscenities sound on their ears, and all who walk with them 
know they did the deeds and said the words ! Fancy the 
filthy-minded and impure, in body, being submerged in a 
sea of slime, too horrible for words to describe, which gets 
into their mouths and nostrils, and clings to their gar- 
ments^ and besmirches every part of them with its foul 
stench and feeling ! This is what Dewdrop told me, but 
the other day, was the sphere for those men and women 
who forgot their sex, and their humanity. When I begin 
to think of what my spirit friends have taught me, and 
what they have told me, I feel as if they had transformed 
all my preconceived ideas of the future. They have shown 
me how, in the words of the Great Mikado, of Gilbert and 
Sullivan, ''the punishment fits the crime"; how the words 



150 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

of St. John are fulfilled to the letter : " He who is unjust, 
let iiim be unjust still, and he that is filthy, let him be 
filthy still, and he that is righteous, let him be righteous 
still.^^ And never have my spirit friends said one word to 
me to weaken my faith in the goodness of God, or His 
immaculate justice and mercy. 

Only the other day, my daughter Eva, writing to me, 
commenced her letter with : '•^ Mother ! if you only 
knew the immensity of the love and goodness of God.^' 
And I have reason to have complete faith in what they tell 
me. 

Ten years ago, I asked Dewdrop if I should ever bear 
another living child. I was anxious at that time to do so ; 
and there seemed to be every probability that I should. 
She considered for a few moments, and then replied, in an 
uncertain manner: "I don^t know quite how to answer 
your question. I don't see any present probability of it, 
and yet I seem to see, in the far future, a younger influence 
growing up beside you, and it is certainly yours — but it 
isn't Frank's'' (meaning my husband, Colonel Lean), "no ! 
there is none of his blood in it, only yours — yours. This 
prophecy made the domestic hearth flare up a little more 
brilliantly than usual, an^ I always regretted that Dewdrop 
had mentioned the subject, particularly as it seemed to be 
quite unlikely of realization. This very month, however, 
quite twelve years afterwards — now I come to remember 
dates — her prophecy has been fulfilled, by the charge of a 
little child, belonging to a near relative, having been thrown 
completely on my hands, where she will remain till my 
death, or hers. And so she will grow up beside me — this 
younger influence that has my blood in her veins, and not 
my husband's — as Dewdrop foretold. Again and again 
have I listened to prophecies from the lips of my spirit 
friends that appeared the unlikeliest things in the world to 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 151 

come to pass, but they have always heen fulfilled, and I 
never doubt, now, but that they will be. 

Two years ago, Dewdrop told me that a great confer- 
ence had been called in the spheres, and the spirits had 
come to the conclusion that Spiritualism had not made 
the progress it should have done, since it was first re-in- 
troduced to the earth, then forty years ago. They had 
seen that it had progressed only amongst the lower classes, 
and that, in order to give it an impetus, it must be brought 
before the notice of a more educated and refined set of 
people. They had, therefore, determined to select a certain 
number of laborers for the cause, who should have access 
to a higher circle of society, and amongst those chosen 
were Bessie Russell Davis and myself. "And mind," 
said Dewdrop, in conclusion, " that our workers will be 
paid, and well paid, into the bargain. We shall see to that, 
because, we know, that whilst you live you must eat and 
drink ; and no man can afford to give up his means of 
subsistence, even for the cause he has most at heart. But 
you will have to work, whether you wish it, or not." 

This declaration has been followed by my having been 
the means of introducing the pursuit of Spiritualism to 
hundreds of people in the upper classes, so-called ; and to 
having brought forward mediums, and established circles, 
where they were never dreamt of before. Quite accident- 
ally, as it seemed, a proposition was made to me, this 
spring, to deliver a course of lectures, in the provinces, on 
Spiritualism, which I saw fit to accept. It was so success- 
ful that it is to be followed by an extended tour in the 
autumn, and just about the time when this little book 
meets the public eye, I expect to be visiting town after 
town on that account. All this came about without the 
least exertion on my own account ; and, I have no doubt, 
was all designed, and put into execution, by my spirit 



152 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

friends. M}- friend, Mrs. Davis, could also tell you that 
she has never been so busy in her life before. Strangers 
pour in upon her from ever}^ quarter of the globe, for 
sittings with "Ned" or "Dewdrop"; men from the Antip- 
odes, who require oil or water located, for their business ; 
professional ladies and gentlemen out of an engagement ; 
mothers who have lost their children (and these are the 
most generous clients, as they are the most faithful lovers) ; 
wives separated from their husbands ; husbands, who 
would like to be separated from their wives; all these, 
and dozens of other poor mortals, who cannot see a yard 
before their noses, and long to find out if they are steering, 
right or wrong, for the haven of happiness, take up her 
time so fully, that it is difficult to get a sitting with her 
at all. Many other workers for the cause have, doubtless, 
been chosen by the spirits (of which I feel certain, although 
I have no authority for saying so, that Mrs. Corner and 

Mr. B will form two), and Spiritualism will find its 

way, more and more, into the circles of the educated and 
highly bred. The fault has been, that it has been left to 
strike its roots for so long amongst those whom we con- 
sider ignorant and unfit to associate with. It is a science, 
which the most learned of men have found themselves un- 
able to cope with ; how, then, could we have expected it 
to flourish when its knowledge, or rather practice, was 
confined to those who took it as it came, and had not the 
capability, nor power, to analyze whence it was, or by 
whom directed? I received a very grai^hic reply from a 
spirit, to whom I had put the question, why mediums, as 
a rule, were such ignorant, and often, brainless people. 
"Because we don't want a furnished house,'* she said; 
" we want an empty one. If tlie brain is too full, and 
capable, there is no room in it for us. AVe cannot oust the 
spirit, nor i)ut it to sleep. It is like a wide-awake child. 



THE SPIKIT WORLD. 153 

Directly we think it is off, it rouses up again. We can- 
not compete with an active, inquiring, clever head. We 
must work through the simpler organizations, and leave 
the profound ones to realize that we are truly there. The 
medium knows nothing of what is going on while she, or 
he, is asleep, you see. If we were to influence the clever 
ones, who would be left to spread the knowledge of 
Spiritualism ? " 

There are one or two private experiences, which have 
occurred to me lately, that, I think^ I might, appropriately, 
introduce into this chapter, which is so wholly personal. 
Bessie Davis has touched on one of them in her reminis- 
cences, but she did not give it in extenso, so it will bear 
repetition here. It is in reference to ^' Ned,^^ and my horse. 
Beauty-boy. I purchased this horse as a colt, and broke 
him in myself, i. e., very badly indeed, so that he took 
all kinds of liberties with me. One day, a well-known 
palmist looked at my hand, and said to me : " You drive 
a spirited horse, in a high cart, do you not?^^ I answered 
in the affirmative, and he continued : " If you do not part 
with him, you will have a serious accident. I see a horse 
frightened by a train, paralzyed with terror, and bolting 
down a road. I see twenty minutes of agonized suspense, 
and then a crash, and darkness. You will not be killed, 
but you will sustain a fracture of the skull, which will be 
followed by months of inertion, and incapacity for work. 
If you wish to avoid this, get rid of that horse at once.^^ 
I felt duly impressed by this warning, especially, as my 
friends did not consider the colt safe, and had been worry- 
ing me, for some time past, to sell him. I did not under- 
stand, however, how it was that " Ned ^' had not cautioned 
me with regard to him, and when I put the question to 
him, he laughed at the palmist's prophecy. 

" D'ye suppose, lass," he said, in his rough way, " that if 



154 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

theer was any danger, I'd have let you drive liim for so 
long? It's naught but coltishness, and his fun leike. 
You don't drive Mm, he drives you ! Keep a tight hand 
on him, lass, and hell be all right. Never you fear.^^ I 
was convinced, for a time, but my friends were not, and 
begged me, so hard, to follow the advice, which coincided 
with their own opinion, that I put the horse, for sale, into 
a jobber's hands, and the next day a purchaser was found 
for him, and my Beauty-boy was led out of my gate. As 
soon as he was gone, I repented me of the evil, and wanted 
him back again. I fretted for a week, during which time 
" Ned '' chaffed me, unmercifully, on my want of decision, 
and, finally, I sent for the jobber and asked him if he could 
buy the animal back for me. He said he supposed it 
might be done, if I were disposed to give half again as 
much money as I had received for him, only a week be- 
fore. He had been purchased by a captain of volunteers, 
for a charger, and he did not feel inclined to part with his 
bargain. I did not see the fun of rebuying my property 
at so exorbitant a rate of interest, so I flew again to 
" Ned '' and asked what I should do. 

"AY ell, I told't thee, lass, not to pairt with the colt. I 
told't tliee it were only coltishness-loike on his pairt that 
made him spirity. Awh, well ! and now ye want to git 
him back. Well, I'll try to see wliat I can do for ye, but 
I don't see no way at present; but we'll see what's to 
be done.'^ 

I thanked him, but returned to my home without any 
hope tliat I should got back my favorite. The next day, 
however, I received a hasty note from tlie jobber to say: " If 
you really want your horse back again, send me a check 
for the money you received for him and I think I can 

manage it for you. Captain J took liim out to sword 

exercise this morning and he kicked him twice over his 



THE SPIRIT AVORLD. 155 

head; so, as he is a timid rider, he declares he will not 
mount him, again. But if you want him, don^t delay to 
send the money, as if the news that he is in the market gets 
wind in the town, there will be more than one offer for him 
by to-morrow morning/^ 

I sent the check back by the bearer of the note, and^ 
before night. Beauty-boy was housed in his own stall. 
Naturally, I hurried to ''' Ned " with the news. " How did 
it happen, Ned ? ^^ I asked. " I cannot understand it at 
all. Beauty-boy has never kicked in his life before. It is 
not one of his faults. What made him do it? What 
would Captain J have done to him ? " 

" The captain didn^t do nothing, lass," was his quiet re- 
ply. "I was theer myself, and I tickled him under the 
tail" 

I have experienced two instances of a spirit appearing 
immediately after death, lately. The first was that of my 
own dear daughter, Eva, who passed away, in my house, at 
twenty minutes to eight o'clock, in the evening of a cer- 
tain 20th of July. She died in childbirth, and her death 
was very unexpected and sudden. An hour before it oc- 
curred, the doctor attending her assured me she was no 
more dying than I was myself. Her oldest brother, Frank, 
was touring the provinces, at the time, with a theatrical 
com2)any, and the only intimation he had received of his 
sister's illness was in a hurried note from myself, in which 
I had told him of her illness, and added : " The doctor as- 
sures me there is no danger ; but I cannot help feeling 
anxious." On the evening she passed away, he returned 
from his theatre about eleven o'clock, and went to bed. 
He had a friend occupying the same room, and, after 
Frank had dropped off to sleep, this friend woke him, say- 
ing : " Do look there. There is a woman standing at the 
bottom of your bed." My son did as his friend desired 



156 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

liim, and distinctly saw his sister in the direction pointed 
out to him. She was remarkable, through life, for the 
length and luxuriance of her hair, which was unbound, he 
told me, and hanging loose to her knees. She was dressed 
in her night-gown, and stood there for some minutes, 
smiling sadly at him. The sight made such an impression 
on him, that he wired me the first thing in the morning: 
^' Send news of Eva.'"' His telegram was crossed on the 
road by one from me: '^" Eva left us last evening at eight 
o^clock.'^ 

An old and very dear friend of mine, whom I will call by 
her Christian name, " Annette,'^ passed away, also, very sud- 
denly, of pneumonia, some two years since. She had just 
moved into a house near mine, and I was with her during 
her last hours. She was, apparently, unconscious, for some 
time before she breathed her last, and her son and daughter 
fancied that she could not hear, or know anything that 
was going on around her. I cautioned them once or 
twice with regard to what they said, telling them that we 
can never be quite certain when complete unconsciousness 
has set in with a dying person. After she was gone, as- 
sisted by her daughter, I washed and laid out her body, 
and placed some white chrysanthemums and maiden-hair 
fern about the bed and pillow. I must tell you that, 
about a month previous to her demise, my friend had asked 
to accompany me to one of Mr. Towns' seances, as she was 
very desirous of asking him a few questions. Annette, 
like many other married women, had not led a particularly 
enviable existence, and had been, virtually, separated from 
her husband for some time past. The questions which 
she, mentally, put to Mr. Towns were : first, would her 
troubles soon be over? secondly, would she be worried 
by lier husband's presence in her new house ? and, thirdly, 
would her money affairs come all right? As these queries 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 157 

were put mentally, I, of course, only heard the answers,, 
which were given aloud, and were as follows : " Very soon. 
He will never enter it. Don^t worry about that, or any- 
thing.^^ As we left Mr. Towns^ house, Annette squeezed 
my arm and ejaculated joyfully; " I am so happy ! He 
has satisfied me on every particular ! '' She then told me 
what her questions had been, and the fears she had enter- 
tained with regard to her husband pursuing her to her new 
abode. A month after, she had gone from all trouble for- 
ever, and the house was still unpolluted by her husband's 
presence. She died in the early dawn of a Wednesday 
morning, and as soon as the arrangements I have mentioned 
were accomplished, I returned to my home, and went to 
bed, quite tired out. In the early dawn of Thursday, just 
twenty-four hours after Annette had left us, she wakened 
me. I saw her standing by my bedside, clad in a purple 
flannel dressing gown, which I had never seen her wear in 
life. She was smiling in her own peculiarly sweet way at 
me, but did not speak. She stayed long enough, however,, 
for me to take in every detail of her personal appearance, 
and, especially, of the purple dressing gown. After she 
was buried, and he could be of no use, the husband turned 
up at my residence. He was, of course, overwhelmed with 
grief — bad husbands generally are. It costs nothing, and 
looks well, especially from a man who posed, as this one 
did, for a saint. He made one disclosure, however, that 
was interesting to me. He said : " You know how little 
I believe in ghosts, but a most curious thing happened to 
me the day after my poor, dear, lamented Annette's death. 
It was quite in the early morning — I looked at my watch 
afterwards, and found it was only four o'clock — and I 
waked, without any reason, to see my poor wife by the 
bedside. But the strange part of it is, that she seemed to 
be wearing a garment that she discarded years ago. The 



158 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

fact is, when her mother was in her last illness, and 
Annette was sitting up, night after night, with her, the 
weather was very cold, and I brought her from town a blue 
or purple flannel tea gown, to sit up in, and I could take 
my oath that she wore that identical gown when she appeared 
to me. Or was it all a delusion on my part ? " I then told 
him how I, also, had seen the same dressing gown, and be- 
lieved that Annette's spirit had assumed it^ because the 
gift of it was probably one of the very few kind things her 
husband had ever performed on her behalf. You must 
understand that it was to one of the late Mr. Towns^ free 
seances that Annette had accompanied me, consequently 
he did not speak to her, except whilst under control during 
the evening, nor did he know her name, nor of the friend- 
ship between us. Fully three months after her death, I 
attended one of these free Tuesday evening sittings again, 
and Mr. Towns (who did know me well) addressed me the 
first of all the sitters. He said : " The last time you sat on 
that sofa, ma'am, a strange lad}^ dressed in black, with a 
veil over her face, sat by your side. I don't know if she 
was an intimate friend of yours, but she is sitting there 
now, in the same place, and in the same dress, and she has 
this message for you: '' my more than sister, who held 
me in your arms whilst I was dying, you were quite right 
when you said that I was not unconscious, though unable 
to move or speak, but heard every word that was uttered; 
saw everything that went on. I stood beside you when 
you placed the chrysantliemums on my hands, and on my 
pillow, and arranged my hair upon my forehead, and longed 
to thank you for your kind offices. Tell this man that his 
prophecies concerning me have been fulfilled, and in a 
happier way than I ever imagined they would be ! Be a 
friend to my children for my sake, as you have ever been 
;i friend to me." 



THE SPIEIT WORLD. 159 

" I have visited you once, and I shall visit you again, but 
not just yet — not for a long time to come. Good-bye/^ 

Now, there are several things to be observed in this 
narrative. In the first place, Mr. Towns had never seen 
Annette before she visited him with me, and then only as 
one of a large public circle. It was, also, the first time that 
she had ever attended a seance of any kind. Then the 
questions he answered were mental ones, and, thirdly, there 
had been no communication between him and me since 
her death ; he had not heard that it had taken place, yet 
he could repeat accurately what had taken place at the 
time, and knew the fact of Annette having visited me 
since. If this is not mediumship, I don't know what name 
unbelievers would give to it. I have not seen Annette 
since, but I have no doubt that I shall ; if not here, at 
least in the Summer Land, where I hope, sooner or later, to 
meet all I have known on this sphere again, and to feel 
that they are friends. Many of my unknown correspond- 
ents have asked me for the address of Mr. Towns, who, I 
regret to say, passed over to the higher life^ in the winter 
of 1892. As a clairvoyant, he is a great loss to Spiritual- 
ism; but his health had failed for some years past, and, 
with ill-health, mediumistic powers soon decrease. Some 
of his visions of the future were marvelously correct, but 
he exhausted his power in sitting so much in public, which 
custom, I have heard, considerably hastened his end on 
earth. 



IGO 



CHAPTER A^IIL 

SPIRITUAL CORRESPOXDEXCE. 

There are several means by which we can corresjDond 
with our spirit friends. There is automatic writing, direct 
writing, and writing through the means of the Heliograph, 
Ouija and Planchette. The first named, automatic writing, 
has been fully explained by Mr. Stead, in his account of his 
correspondence with his friend " Julia." I have also alluded 
to it in a preceding chapter. A person's hand, or arm, 
becomes violently agitated ; sometimes, almost ludicrously 
so, so that he cannot keep it still, do what he will. This 
spontaneous jerking is sometimes accompanied by sharp 
pains, like the shocks of electricity, which run right up the 
arm to the shoulder ; sometimes by a sensation as though 
the limb were stiff and paralyzed. In either case, if a pen, 
or pencil, is placed between the fingers, and paper put be- 
fore the medium, automatic writing will probably ensue, 
/. e.y the hand, after a few futile efforts, which produce 
only unintelligible scratches, will steady itself down and 
gain sufficient control to be able to form letters and 
words, or, perhaps, to draw faces, or flowers, or land- 
scapes. Automatic writing, or drawing, is one of the com- 
monest phases of mediumship. I have met dozens of 
people who were adej^ts at it. It has been known amongst 
Spiritualists for years past, though many people thought 
it a species of invention on the part of Mr. Stead. This 
was only because both they and Mr. Stead were so new to 
the science of Spiritualism. Planchette, Ouija, and the 
Heliograph, are all formed on the same plan and differ 



THE SPIRIT AVORLD. 161 

Yery little in their construction. They are instruments 
made to facilitate spirit-writing, and may be used by one 
pair of hands, or two. In the hands of a good medium, they 
become very powerful agents, but beginners are apt to 
deceive themselves when using them. The tremulous 
agitation, which generally follows from keeping the hands 
in one position for long, is mistaken by them for spiritual 
guidance, and the unmeaning scratches and senseless lines 
and circles which follow it, are twisted into letters and 
words, which have been transcribed in their own imagina- 
tion only. Still, I would not despise the day of small things. 
I have known of w^onderful communications obtained 
through Planchette and Ouija, and, of course, if a spirit is 
really guiding the medium^s hand, the facility with which it 
can communicate becomes enormous. I would, certainly, ad- 
vise beginners, therefore, to procure one of these talking 
boards (as some people call them), and see what luck they get 
with it. They are very moderate in price. Six and sixpence, 
I think, being the highest charge. When using it, try not 
to be too curious to see what letters are being formed — 
turn your thoughts to something else — converse with the 
friend, who sits with you, on different topics ; that is, if you 
can, and any communications you may receive, will be all 
the more convincing to your mind. A sister of mine, who 
saw Ouija at my house, carried it off to her own home, and 
has had marvellous correspondence through it since with an 
old friend, deceased, and this, in the face of the fact that 
she is not a Spiritualist, though a powerful medium. But 
decidedly the most satisfactory way of corresponding with 
our departed friends is by direct writing. This is Avhen 
the spirits write their own letters without the intervention 
of any third party. In " There is no Death " I said that 
I had never satisfactorily seen the spirit of my old friend, 
John Powles, until I visited America. I am glad that I 



162 THE SPIEIT WOELD. 

need say so no longer. Since my return to England (or 
rather since publishing that book), I have seen him, heard 
him, and received a number of letters from him, the 
latter through the mediumship of Florence Cook (Mrs. 
Elgie Corner). The year before last, I spent the month of 
August with her at her delightful house, Usk Yale, in 
TJsk, Monmouthshire. She had not sat then for twelve 
years. She had been sickened to death by the unfairness 
and bigotry of London investigators, who, as a rule, got all 
they could out of her, and then abused her for her trouble, 
until she had come to think that the life of a medium was 
the most miserable life in all the world. If the people, b}^ 
whom she was surrounded, had shown any sympathy in 
Spiritualism, she, doubtless, would not have let her marvel- 
ous powers run to waste; but she had no friends of the 
cause near her, so she laid it all aside and never attempted 
to communicate with her friends on the other side. When 
I entered her house as a visitor, however, matters assumed 
a different aspect. We did not sit for the spirits, but they 
came after us all the same. It was beautiful, bright summer 
weather, and we were engaged all day in driving about the 
country, or sitting in the garden, amusing ourselves with 
the animals, or Florence's girls, and not thinking of any- 
thing more serious. But Avhen the dusk drew on, and the 
children had gone out walking, and she and I were left to 
ourselves, our spirit friends took good care to remind us 
that we were not the only occupants of the house. Chairs 
would walk across the room to our sides — particularly a 
rocking-chair, which would commence to rock as soon as 
we found ourselves alone — raps would sound spontaneously 
on the walls and the floor, and direct-writing would take 
place on tables far beyond our reach, even if we had had 
any reason to deceive each other. In this way, I obtained 
several letters from Powles, who was the last jierson I ex- 



THE SPIKIT WOKLD. 163 

pected to hear from through Mrs. Corner, as she had never 
been associated with him, either in this world, or since he 
had joined the great majority. A slight explanation is 
necessary to make the frequent allusions to C. B. intelligi- 
ble in his letters. These initials stand for the name of a 
man who had greatly wronged Florence Corner, by leading 
her to expect she would be amply remembered in his will — 
inducing her to lay out a considerable sum of money in 
consequence — and then altering his will in favor of some- 
body else, without giving her the slightest warning of his 
intention. His death, therefore, left her and her husband 
in a difficult position, from which it cost them a consider- 
able sum to extricate themselves. The spirit of C. B. was 
haunting the house at the time I was there, conscience- 
stricken, I suppose, and anxious to give some explanation 
of his conduct; but Florence would not give him the oppor- 
tunity of speaking, she felt his influence to be so low. He, 
evidently, tried to do all he could to prevent Powles having 
any communication with me; for, wherever there is an allu- 
sion to him in these letters, a scratch, or dig, is made with 
a pencil over the words, as though he had tried to erase them. 
The first letter was written under difficulties, the pencil and 
paper being on the floor, under my chair. I give them 
just as they are written. 

"It is very unpleasant to deal with C. B. His standing is low, 
morally and physically." (Over the word "morally" there is a 
most vicious dig with the pencil.— F. M.) "I am a sincere friend to 
this medium, and wish her well. Even now, C. B. is in the toils of 
a bad, unscrupulous woman. My dear lieart, you and she will do a 
great deal, but be careful. She is heavily handicapped. God bless 
you, Flo. J. P. This man C. B. is low." * * * 

The receipt of this communication astonished me. I 
could not quite understand who it came from, for the 



16J: THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

signature was rather sliak}^, and I had received no previous 
intimation that Powles was about. A few days after, how- 
ever, as Korrie and I were sitting alone, she was suddenly 
entranced by this spirit, C. B., who had also been an ac- 
quaintance of mine. He refused to go, although I told 
him we would have nothing to do with him after his dis- 
honorable behavior to the medium; but I gave him such a 
bit of my mind that he found the place too hot for him 
and took his departure. The same evening, we put paper 
and pencils on the table, whilst we sat, clasping each 
other's hands, on a sofa near, in the dark, and the follow- 
ing note was the result. It was written on a piece of my 
own notepaper, with my name and address on it, which was 
not amongst the pieces we had placed on the table, and 
had been brought from the blotting-case in my bedroom. 
The word " London '^ was scratched out, and " Usk " sub- 
stituted for it, but there was no date. 

"My dearest, I feel I must tell you the great danger there is in 
allowing C. B. to come through this woman. I only knew her 
through you, dear heart; but I, also, know that you and she will be 
Intimately connected, but ?i(9i^*ws^2^e^, and we (or I, as representing 
those who love you both most dearly) ask you if it be worth your 
while to allow the \isits of a low man (who, even in the midst of his 
grief at his injustice, still gives way to the pernicious influence of 
that bad woman) to spoil the lovely influence that is near. What if 
he tells you how he has made all so wrong ? Will it put Mrs. 
Corner in any better position? No! it will only rake open the old 
sores. There is a bright and happy future coming. Do not spoil it 
by admitting a miserable, low spirit. My friend, we will see that it 
is all right. Show this to Mr. Corner. He is strong and sensible. 
Yours, as ever. J. P. My power is gone." 

These last words were written, I imagine, because I had 
remarked, with regard to the first letter, that the signature 
was not like Powles' writin":, and this one was not much 



I 



THE SPIRIT WOELD. 165 



better, though quite legible. The third communication, 
also written on my own paper, was very brief. 

"Dearest, we are weak to-night. I will tell you a great deal on 
Tuesday. I am finding out how to act. J. P. No strength. C. B. 
is here.'' 

This letter, also, is scribbled over, as though 0. B. had 
endeavored to erase the mention of himself. It was evi- 
dently written with a view to Florrie sitting with me for 
materialization, without being worried by 0. B. (whom we 
particularly did not wish to manifest in that way), for the 
next alludes to the subject. 

"We are doing very well, and we are glad that Mr. Corner does 
not wish C. B. to fix himself on Mrs. C. Believe me, he will (or 
would) do more harm than good. There is great worry coming for 
this woman, but she is doing right, though greatly misjudged, and is, 
and will be, vilified, but all will be right, dear, and you and she 
(same name and same heart) have a happy future. The very short 
interviews we allow are, simply, because of not allowing lower in- 
fluences to predominate. I can use your paper more easily, so have 
taken what I require. Yours forever, J. P. " * * * 

The next letter was written under remarkable circum- 
stances, and is a little history in itself. Powles, it will be 
observed, was still using my professional paper, which was 
stamped with my name and address. It was the only paper 
I had taken up to Usk, and I kept it in a leather blotting- 
case on a table in my bedroom. I had the most perfect 
faith in the honor of my friend Florence Corner. I knew 
she was quite incapable of deceiving me, by taking my 
paper to forge a spirit's letters on; but I also knew that the 
general public would not accept my testimony on the sub- 
ject. The general public were not present at the writing of 
these letters; they would seize the smallest loophole by which 



16G THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

suspicion could creep in to declare the whole business to 
have been a fraud. So, for the satisfaction of those who 
will take my word for what occurred, I decided to secure 
my paper in such a manner that no one could get at it for 
the future; no one, that is to say, but a spirit. With this 
end in view, I took u|) my blotting-case one evening, after 
I had retired to rest, and turned out its contents. I found 
I had forty sheets of writing paper left. Those I folded in 
a larger piece, and tied the parcel round with cotton, writ- 
ing on the outside '' 40 sheets.^^ " Now,'' I said, to myself, 
"if I receive another letter written on my paper, ajid these 
forty sheets remain intact, I shall know it must have been 
taken out beforehand.'' I then fastened my blotting-case, 
placed it in my traveling trunk, locked the trunk and hung 
the key round my neck by a piece of string. I retired to 
bed; slept the sleep of the just, rose and went downstairs the 
following morning with the key round my neck, and with- 
out saying a word to anybody of what I had done. I think 
we all went to a flower-show and pic-nic that day. I know 
we were so much engaged that I forgot all about my secret 
precautions, nor did I remember them, even when Florrie 
and I, too tired to go out with her girls, sat together in the 
evening, working and chatting together. The room we 
occupied was a sort of boudoir of Mrs. Corner's, on the 
same landing as my bedroom, and next to it, but with no 
door between, only the brick wall. Suddenly, as we were 
talking to each other, Florrie gave a shriek, and some large 
substance came through tlie wall and flew past her head 
into my lap. "What is it?" she exclaimed, in a great 
fright. "Who has done it? Somebody is playing a trick 
on us ! " 

I put my hands on the parcel. It was my blotting-case, 
and, with it, had been thrown a cork penholder, which I 
used to prevent cramp, and which had, also, been in the 



THE SPIKIT WORLD. 167 

case when I had locked it up the evening- before. I was 
astonished, but immediately told my friend the story I have 
told you here. She was most incredulous, and would not 
believe it. She was sure some one had got at the key of 
the box. I then produced it from round my neck, where it 
had been all day. ^' Come, Florrie,^' I said, '' before we open 
this blotter, let us get a light and examine my traveling 
trunk." Accordingly, we went into the next room and 
tried the lock of the box, but all was fast, as I had left it. 
We then unlocked it, but there appeared to be nothing 
disturbed inside. The next thing was, to open the blotting- 
case, and count the sheets of paper, which were folded and 
tied with cotton, just as I had left them. There were only 
thirty-nine of them. Examining the other pockets of the 
case, we came upon the following letter, enclosed in an en- 
velope, fastened down, and addressed " To my dear friend, 
Florence Marryat.^' ' The contents were as follows — the 
first six lines being ivritten ill inh^ of which there was 
none in the blotter: 

" UsK, August, 1893. 
My Dearest : I am trying to write with your pen and this ink, 
but it is no good. So much power expended in waste, as, I am sorry 
to say, this woman is so weak, physically (not mentally) that we can 
see her head is in danger. Still, whilst power lasts, don't sell the 
house. " (This was in allusion to one of my houses in Kensington, for 
which I had had an offer. — F. M.) "I took your pen, but of no use. " 
(Here the communication is continued in pencil. — F. M.) " Florence 
Corner will be a great agent in working out your future. I will do 
more before you leave here, but now she is prancing about with 
those girls, and interferes with me." (Florrie had been playing with 
her daughters in the garden, that afternoon, when, I supposed, the 
letter was being written. — F. M.) "She is so powerful, that it is very 

difficult to keep her to ourselves. Get F out of London, and keep 

his home secret. I have taken your paper, but you shouldn't tie it 
up with cotton. I shall keep your lace, but not your pen. Florence 
is here, but I want you all to myself now. J. P. " 



168 thp: spirit world. 

The allusion to F I understood perfecth', also to the 

penholder, which had been thrown into my lap, with the 
blotting-case, but the lace puzzled me. So I looked into 
my box and found a piece of Honiton lace, which I wore as 
2ifichuy missing. Powles had only known me during the 
first four years of my married life, when I was still wearing 
my wedding things. The piece of lace he had taken was 
the only article, in my box, belonging to that time, and 
which, doubtless, he had seen me wear in the olden days — 
good lace being immortal. It was gone, however, entirely, 
there was no doubt ^f that ; so I put away my things and 
waited for him to bring it back again. The next morning 
I was in my bedroom, after breakfast, when Mrs. Corner 
entered the apartment. It was a lovely August morning, 
with a powerful sun streaming in at the open windows. 

"Xow, riorrie,^' I said, ^^let us see if Powles has brought 
my/c/m back again.^' 

We opened the box and examined the articles it con- 
tained, but there was no sign of the missing lace. As I 
turned over the things in the tray, kneeliug before it, I 
exclaimed : 

" 0, that bothering boy. I hope he is not going 
to keep it altogether, for it is the last clean one I 
have." 

As I said the words, the lace fichu came flying back, 
apparently, through the o\)e\\ window, and fell upon my 
upturned face. Florrie and I had regularly " sat " two or 
three times, now, for materializations, but owing, I think, 
to her powers having lain fallow for such a length of time, 
with only partial success, that is, we had not obtained tlie 
full form, as theretofore. On the 1st of September, the fol- 
lowing letter, from my friend, was found under my jiillow, 
on rising. I discovered it whilst taking my jiocket hand- 
kerchief from under the pillow : 



THE SPIKIT WOKLD. 169 

' ' My dearest Heart : No doubt you are disappointed with re- 
sults, but all we do now is only preparing for what will soon take 
place. I am not infallible, any more than any other man, but I do see 

that you must see F out of Cardiff. I like the bay" (alluding to a 

bay colt I had just purchased. Powles was so excellent a horseman 
and judge of horses, that, in his regiment, he obtained the soubri- 
quet of ' ' The Centaur." — F. M.), " but do not work him, only exercise 
him for a fortnight. Wash the eye with water only " (the groom had 
been using oxide of zinc. — F. M.), "and keep his shoulder washed 
with hay salt. I am sorry for this poor woman, but her troubles in 
your life will finish this month. You and she will do much. God 
bless you. J. P." 

On September the 4tli, I had settled to leave TJsk, and 
visit some friends in Devonshire. The evening previous, 
as we were seated at dinner, a hand was placed tipon my 
lap, under the talle, and deposited there the folloiving note. 
The time was eight o^clock ; the gas was lighted ; round 
the table were seated Mr. and Mrs. Corner, their two 
daughters, and two lady friends, beside myself. The 
servants were waiting and passing round the table at the 
time ; there was no room for trickery of any sort. My 
attention was first attracted to what was going on by my 
dress being gently pulled. I looked down and there was 
the hand on my lap, a bare hand, looking perfectly natural, 
holding an envelope out to me. I took it. It contained a 
half sheet of notepaper, with these words, scribbled in 
pencil : 

" My dear F : I am here, close to you, and will help you with 

F . Get him away and all will be well. I will watch over you 

and see that all is well, J. P. This woman is the one who will do 
more than all, to confirm your hooh and our reality.'' 

Now, this is what I mean by direct-writing. There was no 
doubt in my mind of the genuineness of these letters, not 
because I could not account for their being written in any 



170 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

other way, but because they contained allusions to things 
knoiun only to myself y and this is the only test worth hav- 
ing. I did not visit Mrs. Corner again until last month 
(April). All through the intervening eighteen months I 
had received no written communication from Powles, so I 
conclude he cannot write through any other medium. On 
the last occasion, Florrie and I sat twice for written com- 
munications. We placed the paper and pencils on a table, 
in the dark, and sat, with our four hands interlaced — she 
holding both mine, and I both hers — no one else being 
present but ourselves. The first three communications, 
written by different spirits, took four minutes to write, the 
next took three minutes. I transcribe the first just as 
they were penned : 

" Ne grondez pas, cJierie Marie. Je danserai encore moi." 



"It is useless to kick against the pricks, Florrie. We have you 
and will keep you, and care for you." (Unsigned.) 



" I know all arrangements, and will give you good results, to- 
morrow. Do not allow any one to be in this room more than is 
absolutely necessary throughout the day. Florrie, you can trust 
yourself with us. Do not fear, we will not allow you to be hurt, 
and you have good protection round you. C. B. is here, but we 
do not care for him here at present. Dear Mrs. Ross-Church, did 
not we say, years ago, that you and Florrie would come together in 
the end ? My power fails. I. E. B. Go now. * * * 

Dear Flo, as ever. J. P." 

Now, it is simply useless for me to assure my readers 
that I knoto the foregoing letters to be genuine, because I 
was (juite alone with Mrs. Corner, and held her hands the 
whole time. They were not present ; they did not hold her 



THE SPIRIT AVORLD. 171 

hands ; they have to take my word for everything ; and^ 
for aught they know, I may lie like a gas-meter. But 
there are points in them which even a stranger may note 
as curious. Had they been fabricated, why did I not re- 
ceive a long letter from Mr. Powles, instead of a few 
words, written hurriedly, just to tell me he was there, 
without the power to address me further. The first mes- 
sage is, evidently, sent by " Marie,^^ who was the control 
who came to Florrie Cook, in place of Katie King, when 
she had passed on higher. Marie had been a ballet girl in 
her earth-life, and would dance when she got outside the 
cabinet, which used to annoy Florrie, because she thought 
it was so frivolous for a spirit, and that the sitters would 
object to it. Marie^s favorite address to her medium in 
those days (fourteen years ago, remember) used to be " ne 
g^^ondez pas ! " dkudi iai2^rk i\iQ impudence of the addition, 
'\je danserai encore moi ! " as though she would say, " I 
mean to do just as I choose.'^ The message^ signed I. E. B., 
standing for Isabel Elizabeth Blunt, is from one of the 
best and purest spirits who have ever manifested through 
Mrs. Corner, but whom she had not heard from, for the 
same space of time. This accounts for her addressing me 
as " Mrs. Eoss-Church,'' as that was my name at the time 
she knew me. It also proves how foolish those people are 
who imagine spirits to be omniscient and omnipresent, 
like the Almighty. Isabel had no interest in me, except- 
ing as a friend of her medium. She knew me, as any 
mortal might have done, by a particular name, and, not 
having been near me since, did not know that I had 
changed it. But many people would be inclined to take 
that fact as a proof that she could not be a spirit, because 
she did not know. The prophecy that Florence Corner 
and I should come together in the end, and work together 
for the cause of Spiritualism, was pronounced years ago^ 



173 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

and is still insisted on to this day; therefore^ I have no 
doubt but that it will, eventually, be fulfilled. The next 
morning, just as I was starting for the train, Florrie said 
to me : ^^ Do come into my little room. I have an idea 
we shall get something." Accordingly, I went with her, 
and, having made our preparations, sat, with interlaced 
hands, as before. I must premise that we had sat, the 
evening before, for materializations, with a strange gentle- 
man — strange, I mean, to Spiritualism — and he had proved 
so strong and so harmonious, that the spirits had been de- 
lighted with his influence, and, for a first seance, after so 
long an interval, the sitting had proved most successful, 
the full form having shown itself almost immediately, 
though unrecognizable. (It has proved since to have been 
"Marie.'') It is to this seance, I conclude, that I. E. B. 
alludes in her letter. 

"Dear Mrs. Ross-Church: The old prophecy is fulfilled, and 
Florrie's fate is fixed. (This means, to my idea, that, although Mrs. 
Corner has declared, over and over again, that she would have 
nothing more to do with using her mediumistic powers for the 
public, she will have to follow the wishes of her controls, and come 
forward in the cause, whether she likes it or not. Whilst she had no 
one to sit with, it was impossible ; but the spirits contrived to intro- 
duce her, through my means, to the family of which the gentleman I 
spoke of is a member, and through whom, I believe, she will find 
herself forced into public notice again. — F. M.) There will be much 
suffering for her ; but it is necessary. Mr. B. is the better half of 
her mediumship. Do not tell her, but let it come gradually. Noth- 
ing of great importance will take place for the next few months, ex- 
cept his and her development. — I. E. B. For Flo, not Florrie.'^ 



"My Darling Fi.o : It is hard to see you, and not be able to be 
close to you, the more so as this girl is so suited to us ; but it can't 
be helped, as the turning-point in her life; has come, and, for the 



THE SPIEIT WOELD. 173 

time, we must give way. My dearest, you are always in my heart, 
and, when your dear voice rings again in my ear, I forget the lapse 
of years, and think I am, as I always was, your own J. P." 



This is, really, such a very private and lover-like letter, 
that I feel I ought not to give it to the public, except that 
it is to prove the truth and strength of Spiritualism that 
my friend writes to me. These two letters, containing, in 
all, two hundred words (for parts were so private I was 
obliged to omit them), were written in three mimites, by my 
watch. Taken in conjunction with perfect darkness, 
I wonder how many mortals could accomplish the same 
feat. 

Bessie Davis and I have obtained a good deal of direct- 
writing whilst sitting together. One evening, after getting 
up from a mixed seance, we found a large sheet of paper, 
covered with what seemed to be unintelligible gibberish. 
We turned it upside down, and round about, and held it 
in every sort of light, but could make neither head nor 
tail of it. At last, it struck Mrs. Davis to hold it against 
a looking-glass, when it became quite distinguishable. 
Written in a large, round hand, were these words : 

To Dear Florence Marrtat : I like your circle, and will help 
it all I can. I made a sad muddle of my own life, but am free, 
now, to show others how to be happier than I was. 

Yours, M K ." 

This note was signed, not with initials, but the full 
name of a lady known to both of us, and living, at the 
time (as was believed), in New York ; so we thought it 
must be some other spirit taking her name, to mislead us. 
In a short time, however, we read of her death in the news- 
paper, which had occurred on the very afternoon of the 



174 THE SPIEIT WORLD. 

day she wrote to me. '^ Florence/^ and, latterly, my dear 
daughter, Eva, often write me little notes through Mrs. 
Davis, and, sometimes, pin flowers, such as rosebuds, etc., 
to the paper they write on. Years ago, when I was in the 
habit of using Planchette, I received long letters, written 
in the German character, which is a branch of study 
which, I regret to say, I never mastered. It used to annoy 
me at that time, because I seemed to guess the words be- 
fore Planchette had concluded writing them ; thus, if han 
were written, I knew directly whether hand, or handker- 
chief, or handle was going to be transcribed. I thought, 
therefore, that the writing must be the reaction of my 
own brain on my fingers, and had determined not to use 
Planchette any longer. My spirit friends urged me to 
continue, however, and, from that moment, every word 
used to be written backwards, so that it was impossible to 
know what they were, until they were spelled out. 



175 



CHAPTER IX. 

MY SEAISTCES WITH CECIL HUSK. 

I devote this chapter to an account of the sittings I have 
enjoyed under the medium ship of Mr. Cecil Husk, of 29 
South Grove, Peckham Rye, and I am the more glad to be 
able to do this, because I believe Mr. Husk to have been 
much misrepresented and wrongly accused. He has had, 
like most mediums, to pass under the harrow of ignorance 
and bigotry, and he has suffered acutely therefrom. But, 
since the experiences which I am about to relate, have 
taken place under his auspices during the last two years, I 
trust my testimony to the undoubted genuineness of what 
I have witnessed, may have the eifect of dispelling the re- 
membrance of anything my readers may have heard against 
the powers of this remarkable medium. The first time 
his name was mentioned in my hearing, was as far back as 
1882, when I was on a tour with D^Oyley Carte " Patience " 
Company, in which Miss Angela Husk (his sister) was 
playing the role of " Lady Angela.^' As soon as she became 
aware of my spiritualistic tendencies, she said to me: " 0, 
how I wish you knew my brother Cecil ! You must go 
and have a seance with him^ when you go back to Lon- 
don," which I promised to do. Many things, however, in- 
tervened to delay the fulfillment of my promise, and it was 
not till 1892, ten years afterwards, that Mr. Husk's name 
was again brought prominently before my notice, and I 
had my first seance with him. 

I found him a superior man in many respects. He, like 
his sister, was a professional singer for some years, until his 



176 THE SPIRIT AVORLD. 

failing sight compelled him to give nj) appearing in public. 
He is now so blind that, although he can distinguish forms 
on entering a room, he cannot recognize them until they 
speak to him. Some of the opposers of Spiritualism were 
good enough to spread a report that Mr. Husk's blindness 
was assumed, for the purpose of better hoaxing his clients. 
Upon this. Baroness Wauchtermeister took him to the 
elder Crichett, now deceased, who pronounced a cure im- 
possible. I consider Mr. Husk's blindness, however unfor- 
tunate for himself, a great factor in his medium ship. Any 
one who knows how difficult it is to " make up " properly 
for the stage, even with the advantage of a couple of lights, 
will understand how utterly impossible it would be for a 
man to assume a dozen different characters, when shut up 
in the dark, or even in the light, when he is, unhappily, 
blind. Yet, Cecil Husk's would-be detractors have insisted 
that, Avhen in perfect darkness, it is quite easy for him to 
transform his face, from a young man's to that of an old one, 
or from a girl's to that of a woman ; and to appear in the 
light, without a smudge on his face or beard, or wig awry. 
AVhen I hear people argue like that, it makes me sick to 
think how full the world we live in is of fools, who insist 
upon condemning things of which they are utterly incom- 
petent of judging. People, sometimes, think me disagree- 
able, because I refuse to give them introductions to mediums 
of my acquaintance, or give them their names and addresses. 
A few months ago, I introduced a gentleman, of whom I 
entertained the higliest opinion, to Mr. Husk, and, so far, 
my introduction was justified. But this gentleman, in his 
turn, sent a couple of friends of his to Mr. Husk, who were 
accepted in the same good faith as he liad been. These 
two men (for I cannot call them gentlemen) were admitted 
to a seance with Mr. Husk, on the same understanding as 
their introducer liad been, i. e., that they would observe 



THE SPIKIT WOKLD. 177 

all the conditions imposed on the sitters by the controls, 
one of which is, as the merest tyro knows, not to strike a 
light whilst the manifestations are going on. These men, 
however (contrary to all the rnles of honor and good faith), 
exhibited an electric light, whilst the spirits were manifest- 
ing, and denounced the whole proceedings as fraud, because 
no spirits were to be seen, and the white drapery, according 
to their account (and I, for one, could never take the 
testimony of men who could commit such a breach of trust, 
without a very large pinch of salt), was all over the table, 
and Mr. Husk's head and shoulders. Now, had these men 
been clairvoyant, and able to see in the dark, they would have 
seen that, when the spirit heads appeared over the surface of 
the table, they proceeded out of Mr. Hush's chesty or hreast, 
and were linked to him. They are partly formed out of 
his brain, partly from the forces contributed by the sitters. 
If, when the light was flashed upon them, they had not 
immediately rushed back into the medium, his life would 
probably have paid the forfeit of the outrage committed on 
him by these men. As the spirit particles mingled again 
with the medium's particles, the drapery (which, in dema- 
terialization, always disappears after the form.) would, 
naturally, be left on the table, or the medium's body. 
When the full form dematerializes in sight, and goes down 
through the floor, the drapery, invariably, is left behind 
for a few seconds, till it follows suit. I have seen it done 
over and over again, and know it to be a fact. Buti this is 
the way most people go about investigating Spiritualism. 
They go to discover, not a great truth, but a great fraud, 
and so they never discover anything, because it is too won- 
derful for them to grasp all at once, and they do not allow 
themselves to go any further. If they only injured them- 
selves,' however, it would little signify; but the harm is, 
that they injure the medium. What has been the effect of 



178 THE SPIRIT WOELD. 

the outrage I have related upon Mr. Husk? He had a 
paralytic stroke after it. When he was waked up from his 
trance in that sudden way^ he was paralyzed with terror, and 
ran about like a mad creature. The upshot was, he was very 
ill for some time afterwards, and the doctor, who attended 
him, can bear testimony to the severe shock he received. 
For months he has been unable to sit, except with friends, 
and all because two ignoramuses were dishonorable enough 
to break faith with him, and think themselves wiser than 
every one who had pursued the path before them. Is it 
to be wondered at, after such an experience, if mediums 
decline to sit with people of whose good faith they are not 
perfectly assured ? It reminds me of Florence Cook, and 
Mr. Yolckman^ and the night I and Lady Caithness spent 
by her bedside, whilst two doctors were in attendance, and 
the medium in convulsions. But I am not aware if Mr. 
Yolckman ever confessed that he was wrong, in having 
grasped the spirit form in his arms, and thrown the 
medium into fits. The men I have been writing of, and 
the gentleman who introduced them to Cecil Husk, went 
about declaring they had detected him in trickery, and 
made many others, doubtless, believe they were correct. 
Let my testimony weigh against theirs in the scale of evi- 
dence. Since I first sat with Mr. Husk, two years ago, I 
have been a very frequent visitor of his, and under trying 
circumstances; for, almost every friend to whom I have 
mentioned his liame, has insisted on my being present at 
the first interview, when one's eyes and ears, as a rule, are 
all alert to discover the why, and the wherefore, of every- 
tliing. I have become well acquainted, therefore, with his 
controls, and their method of working. John King is the 
principal control of his seance room, and the others are all 
under his orders. 

In 1892, I sat, witli about a dozen friends, at twelve 



THE SPIKIT WOKLD. 179 

sittings, with Mr. Husk. Thej were held every Thursday, 
under very strict conditions, and all the sitters were men 
and women of education and social position. The seances 
were cabinet ones, i. e., the medium went into a cabinet 
formed of a dark curtain drawn across one corner of the 
room, with a chair placed inside it, and the materializations 
were all fully formed. As soon as ever Mr. Husk had 
taken his seat within the cabinet, you would hear the sub- 
ordinate controls talking together, on all sorts of subjects ; 
but, directly John King arrived, a dead silence ensued. 
These subordinate controls consist of five men, who call 
themselves by the names of ^^Uncle,^^ " Christopher,^' 
*' Ebenezer," " Tom Hall,^' and, last, though not least, ex- 
cept in size, my dear old friend, ^' Joey,'' who used to mani- 
fest through William Eglinton in the olden days, and who 
followed me to the New World, and showed himself there. 
These controls are employed in gathering the materials 
with which John King works, so that there may be no de- 
lay when he arrives. As soon as that happens, you may 
hear him issuing his commands to one and another, such 
as: "Make those passes more to the right"; or, "Keep 
his head up " ; or, " Two of you raise his shoulders, so as 
to place him in a more upright position " ; and the other 
spirits' answers: "All right, John"; or, "I've done it, 
John," etc., etc. To me, it is one of the most curious 
things, on these occasions, to hear the conversations be- 
tween the spirits themselves, each one having such a dis- 
tinctive voice of his own, that, after a short acquaintance 
with them, it would be as impossible to mistake them as 
it would be the voices of your different friends. I have 
questioned John King as particularly as I can, without 
monopolizing too much of his time, as to the manner in 
which materialized forms are produced, and his answer 
was much as follows : " When the controls have collected 



180 THE SPIEIT WORLD. 

the matter with which I work — some from everybody in 
the circle, but mostly from the medium^s brain — I mould 
with it a plastic mask, somewhat like warm wax in feel, 
but transparent as gelatine, into the rough likeness of a 
face. You will understand that there is always a crowd 
of spirits ready here to show themselves to their friends — 
a great many more than we can allow to appear. They 
are built up in their spirit forms, but would be quite in- 
visible to the majority of sitters, unless covered with my 
transparent mask; without it, also, they would be unable 
to retain their shape or likeness, when exposed to the outer 
air. I, therefore, place this plastic substance over the 
spirit features, and mould it to them. If the spirits will 
have the patience to stand still, I can, generally, make an 
excellent likeness of what they were in earth-life, but most 
of them are in such haste to manifest that they render my 
task very difficult. That is why, very often, a sj)irit ap- 
pears to his friends and they cannot recognize any likeness. 
He has not given me sufficient time to mould the mask to 
his features. 

" Once, a young man had been out, and his friends had 
recognized him fully, at which he was so pleased that he 
returned again and again to show himself to them. All 
the while, a young woman was waiting her turn, and, when 
the young man returned to the cabinet, for the last time, 
she was in such a hurry to follow his example, that she 
would not stand still for me to mould the mask upon her 
face, but rushed out with one-half of the young man's 
muHtache hanging on her lip, which gave her a very gro- 
tesque appearance.^^ There was a gentleman in the com- 
pany, at the time this story was told, who remembered the 
circumstances, and confirmed it. 

The cabinet seances I am now writing of were quite 
private. mthI held amongst friends, so that the forms that 



THE SPIRIT WOELD. 181 

appeared Avere mostl}^ known to the sitters. The first that 
appeared, in whom I took any interest, was that of the 
Duke of Clarence. Not being on the royal visiting list, I 
had no personal acquaintance with him during his life- 
time, and I was puzzled, at first, to think why he should 
have singled me out to pay the compliment of a visit to. 
But I had, in common with the rest of the nation, been 
deeply grieved at the announcement of his death, and, as 
will be seen hereafter, he seems to have been aware of it. 
Por some time before he appeared, we heard him remon- 
strating, inside the cabinet, and say: "Leave me alone. Do 
leave me alone. Can^t you see that I^m ill ? Let me rest." 
He, evidently, believed himself to be still lying in his bed 
at Sandringham. We did not know who was talking after 
this fashion; but, as soon as the Duke appeared, I recog- 
nized him from his photographs. I exclaimed : "Why, it 
is the Duke of Clarence ! " and he replied : " No, not that. 
Call me ' Eddy.^ " I then remembered a story I had heard 
to the effect that, some few months before his death, he 
had been to visit a clairvoyant, who had told him, amongst 
other things, that '^ Marriage, for him, spelt Death.'^ " So 
the clairvoyant was right, my poor boy,'' I said ; " and 
marriage, for you, did spell Death.'' He drew himself up, 
retreated a few steps, and exclaimed, in a clear voice, so as 
to be heard by everybody : " No, Miss Marryat, not death 
— Life ! Tell everybody it spelt Life — Life I " 

This was the first time of the Duke's appearing ; but, 
after that, he came whenever we sat. Sometimes, he was 
remarkably like himself ; at others, he was not. He, gen- 
erally, asked me if he looked as he used to do. One day, 
I told him, he would be just like, according to my opinion, 
if his complexion were a little fairer. He retired to the 
cabinet, but returned, a minute later, with a much fairer 
complexion, but, also, a much shorter face. I laughed, 



182 THE SPIRIT AVORLD. 

and said : " 0, go away ; yon are not a bit like yourself 
now " ; at which he smiled, too, and disappeared altogether. 

Lady G , who had known the Prince well during his 

lifetime, was much interested on hearing I had seen him^ 
and called on me, with the express purpose of asking how 
he looked, and what he had said. "Was he just like him- 
self ? '' was one of the questions she put to me. I hesitated. 
" Well, not always," I replied. " And I noticed one thing 
about him, which seemed very unlike. You know how 
particular he was about his hair. It was always so neatly 
arranged, with the curl over his forehead. Well, the curl 
is gone. His hair seems ruffled over his forehead, as if 
some one had ruffled it with his fingers, on purpose." "You 
have given me the best possible proof of his identity," said 

Lady G ; and she then went on tell me that she had 

been at Sandringham at the time of the Duke's lamented 
death, and the lock of hair he used to wear had been cut 
off as a memento, and the remaining hair ruffled over his' 
forehead, just as I described his wearing it. If Lady 

G 's account was true (and I have no reason to doubt 

her word), it was a pretty good proof I had given her, 
considering I had never seen the Duke of Clarence, except 
in his published likenesses. Of course, I talked to him, on 
the many occasions on which I saw him, on various sub- 
jects; but, equally, of course, it is hardly possible for me 
to repeat our conversations here. When I asked him why 
he came so perseveringly to a humble individual like my- 
self, who has never liad anything to do with royalty in her 
life, he said : "• Because you wept for me." "But half the 
nation wept for you," I replied. " Yes ; perhaps so ; but 
you — you are not one who weeps for everybody," which is 
quite true. 

Once, when \ accom])anied another duke to Mr. Husk's, 
and Prince Eddy appeared, lie at once addressed the new- 



THE SPIEIT WOELD. 183 

comer by his title, and so betrayed the incognito which he 
had wished to preserve, and of which Mr. Husk had not 
the least suspicion. 

On another occasion, I was invited to join a seance with 
Mr. Husk, given by several young men in town. I ac- 
cepted, believing them to be sincere seekers after the truth, 
instead of a set of scoffers, who merely assembled to make 
fun out of all they might see or hear. Amongst them, how- 
ever, was a gentleman who, I was told, was, or had been, a 
clergyman or tutor at Sandringham, and acquainted witli 
the Duke of Clarence. At any rate, as soon as we sat 
down, the Duke appeared and went straight up to this 
gentleman and spoke to him. My sailor son was ashore 
about this time, and I told him of the foregoing inter- 
views. He asked me why I did not let those who were most 
deeply interested in the Duke's reappearance know of what 
I had seen. I laughed, and said: "No, thank you, my 
boy ! I don't want to bring a storm of royal hailstones about 
my ears.'' And, in fact, many people are quite affronted if 
you tell them you have seen their dead. They seem to 
think it a great impertinence on your part, to have experi- 
enced what they have not, and forget that such things 
are beyond your own control. I did not, therefore, act on 
my son's suggestion, and the subject was not again raised 
between us. The next time I visited Mr. Husk, however, 
and Prince Eddy appeared, he stood just outside the 
cabinet and beckoned me to go to him. On my approach, 
he whispered: '^ Don't tell my people yet. Miss Marryat." 
I did not remember, at first, to what he was alluding ; but 
when I did, I answered: "0, you are talking of what my 
son said to me ! Well, if you overheard him, you must 
have also heard me say, that I had no intention of bring- 
ing a storm of royal hailstones about my unfortunate 
ears." "It's not that," he said; "but they are not ready 



184 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

for this phase of Spiritualism, yet ! You say yourself that 
I am not always recognizable. Sometimes I am like my- 
self and sometimes not, and if they were to see me when I 
am not, it would set them against it altogether. The time 
will come, but it is not yet.^' I have never sat with Mr. 
Husk without this spirit appearing to me, and if, on the 
news reaching high quarters, I am condemned to be led 
forth to " hinstant hexecution," I shall say so with my last 
breath. AVith him, has often come, but not always, the 
Prince Imperial, another beautiful, young, treasured life 
cut lamentably short. Now, with regard to this apparition, 
I would like to mention what / call proof of identity. I 
knew this Prince no more than I did the other, and could 
only recognize him from his photogra2)hs. Any distin- 
guished-looking young man, with an olive complexion, and 
dark eyes, and slight figure, might have passed for the Prince 
Imperial with a stranger. But it was the pure Parisian 
accent with which he addressed me, that convinced me of 
his identity. We were all men and women of education, 
as I have said before ; but, I will venture to affirm, there 
was not one of us that could speak French as the Prince 
Imperial spoke it to me. There is no mistaking a pure 
Parisian accent. It is something that very few English- 
men acquire, even though they may live in Paris ; and, on 
the lips of this spirit, it was undeniable. I have not seen 
him so often as I have the Duke of Clarence ; but, for the 
first few times, they always came together, or immediately 
succeeding each other; and the Prince Imperial invariably 
spoke with the same accent. 

As these sittings took place in the dark, I must explain 
the means by which |we saw and recognized the spirits. 
Mr. Husk has a number of sheets of millboard, painted 
with luminous paint, and exposed during the daytime ; 
and, as tlie forms leave the cabinet, they take up two of 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 185 

these sheets, and hold them, tent-wise, over their heads, 
by which means they are as fully illuminated for the per- 
son they come for as if they were standing under a lamp. 
The only drawback to this plan is, in my opinion, that 
only the friends they come for can see the spirits^ faces, 
the little tent completely shielding their features from the 
rest of the sitters. 

We had a curious experience, during these seances, with 
Captain Fred. Burnaby, who had been an intimate friend 

of Mr. Douglas M , one of the sitters. John King had 

called out from the cabinet, " Here's somebody for you, Mr. 
Douglas M ;'' but no one had any idea who was com- 
ing. Presently, out stalked the tall figure of Captain Fred. 
Burnaby. Every one who knew this gentleman, knows 
what an enormous chest and pair of shoulders he possessed, 
and what a very small, melon- shaped head in comparison. 
Out he came, holding the two illuminated boards up to his 
face, whilst John King directed him. " To the right, if you 
please ! The gentleman to the right.'' The spirit walked up 

to the side of Mr. Douglas M , and then, with a kind of 

cry, dropped both the boards and stood in darkness. " My 

God ! M ," he exclaimed, " I never expected to see 

you," and, thereupon, he rushed back into the cabinet as 
fast as he could. His tone and exclamation were exactly 
what one might have expected to hear from a mortal who 
had suddenly encountered a spirit. Captain Burnaby ap- 
peared for his friend several times after that, but his un- 
mistakable fright was a joke amongst us for some time 
afterwards. Directly after him, came dear, old Frank 
Buckland, with his thin, gray hair and beard, and a fishing- 
rod over his shoulder. He, also, came for Mr. Douglas 

M , and had a somewhat lengthy conversation with him. 

I am relating all I can remember of these twelve seances, 
rolling their experiences into one, as it were, and not staying 



186 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

to identify which of them I am alluding to^ as the same 
spirits appeared at almost all. It was here that I again 
met John Powles, the first time since I had been in 
America, and the first time, at all, in England. John 
King addressed me from inside the cabinet. ^' Here's a 
friend of yours, Florence, who won't put on white drapery. 
He says he never has worn sheets, and he never will, but 
must appear in tweed clothes. '^ "Who is he, John?'' I 
asked. But John will never give the name of a spirit. He 
says if it is too weak to give its own name, or too unlike its 
earthly self to be recognizable, it had better wait till it has 
gained more power. So he would not tell me it was 
Powles. " Why do you want him to put on white drapery ? '' 
I next demanded; " what is the good of it ? " " It preserves 
the spirit's borrowed material form longer than anything 
else," he replied; " I know you mortals fancy that spirits 
appear in white as a token of their purity, but it is not so. 
We use white drapery in preference to any color, because 
we have found, from experience, that it is more serviceable 
to us. But, as your friend wishes to appear in earthly 
raiment, he can do so; but he will not be able to stay so 
long, in consequence." A minute afterwards, the curtain 
parted, and John Powles stood before me. He was attired 
(seemingly) in a rough gray, or fawn tweed suit, though 
John King had thrown a white piece of drapery over his 
shoulders. He looked exactly like himself, and spoke 
quite distinctly. I said: " My dear, old boy, how glad I 
am to see you so like your old self!" and he replied: 
"Always, my dearest, in life or death." His hair and beard 
were of the reddish golden color they were in life; his 
eyes china-blue, and his stature and build just as I re- 
membered them. Every one in the circle saw him as 
plainly as I did, and heard him speak, and remarked on 
the tweed suit he wore, the medium having entered the 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 187 

cabinet in a black suit. Powles has often appeared since, 
through Mr. Husk. Once, when we were sitting round the 
table., his face suddenly appeared before me, but, to my 
surprise, his hair was snow-white. "Why, what^s the joke 
now?^^ I exclaimed; "what have you done to your hair and 
beard ? '^ " You always call me a '^ boy/ '' he replied, " and 
talk as if you were so much older than myself. So I 
thought I would show you what I should have been like^ 
had I continued on this earth. '^ In fact, he was several 
years older than myself, and would have been an old man 
by this time, in the earth life, and I am glad to think he 
has gained the Land of Eternal Youth. He, generally, says 
something sweet to me, as " Dearest of all,'^ or " The dear- 
est friend I have,^^ which is, I daresay, very true now, as 
most of his own family have died off, and he has their 
society over there. And I shall look for him amongst the 
first to welcome me, when I go over. 

My daughter Florence was, of course, a standing dish at 
these seances, and everybody present was anxious to see her, 
having read her history in " There is no Death.^^ One after- 
noon (we always sat in the afternoon), I asked her if she 
could bring one of my babies, and added, to my next 
neighbor: "I think the materialization of a baby is such a 
convincing proof of genuineness,'^ in which she acquiesced. 
Florence said she would try, and, retreating to the cabinet, 
presently returned, nodding and smiling, in the direction 
of her left arm, whilst she carried an illuminated mill- 
board in her right hand. I glanced at the left arm. On 
it reposed a tiny creature, no larger than a penny doll, but^ 
yet, alive, as might be plainly seen by its little arms, which 
were waving to and fro. I gazed at it in amazement, 
whilst Florence continued to smile and nod her head. 
" That a baby of mine ! '' I exclaimed, laughing. "' I won't 
own it. Go away, you fraud, and get me something better.''' 



188 THE SPIRIT AYORLD. 

To my surprise, Florence acquiesced, and, almost imme- 
diately, returned with a child of perhaps nine, or ten 
months old in appearance; a large baby, who could sit up- 
right, which kept turning its head round to see the com- 
pany, and had blue eyes, and a head of tiny flaxen curls. 
Florence did not walk round the circle on this occasion, so 
that all the sitters did not see the two children; but the 
lady next me did so, distinctly, and expressed as much 
surprise as I did. 

My aunt, Mrs. Bury Palliser, was a woman well known in 
the world of letters and art. She was my father. Captain 
Marryat's, favorite sister, and had always proved a good and 
kind friend to me. One afternoon, John King announced: 
^' A spirit for you. Miss Marryat ! I don^t know who she is, I 
never saw her before, but she is some relation of yours, an 
elderly lady, and she is holding up her right hand. There 
is blood on it, as if it had been torn. The action is in- 
tended for a guide, in case you do not recognize her." But 
there was no need of a guide; for, as soon as I saw the 
spirit, I recognized my dear aunt Fanny, with her face so 
like mine, that people often said I resembled her in 
feature, far more than any of her own children did. I saw 
the smear of the blood on her hand, also, but did not un- 
derstand it, until I had time to think the matter over and 
remembered what I had been told respecting her last ill- 
ness. She died of Bright's disease, and her agony, at the 
last, Avas so great, that she fixed her teeth in the back of 
her hand and mutilated the flesh. I had not been present 
at the time, but was told of this after her death; the cir- 
cumstance, therefore, did not immediately recur to my 
mind, so that no one can imagine there was any brain 
€ollusion in the case. 

Another spirit, whom I saw, for tlie first time, when 
fitting at these seances, was my Persian guide. For some 



THE SPIRIT AVORLD. 189 

time past, I had been told tliat my most powerful guide 
was an ancient Persian, but, by no means, could 1 get 
at his name. One afternoon, however, a white-robed 
figure issued from the cabinet, and " salaamed " before me. 
I asked who he was, but received no answer, only another 
profound "salaam/'' as we should have called it in India. 
It was a man with a dark complexion, black eyes, and a 
black beard, all plaited in little tails. He wore a turban, 
and a long robe, reaching to his feet, and girt round his 
middle by a white sash of the same material. I asked John 
King who he was, but all the answer I got was, that he was 
a most powerful control of mine. Since then, I have seen 
him several times, and he has given me the name of 
Abdullah Ben-adad Pen-rudah Mahomet Abdullah, which 
is a pretty good mouthful if you should happen to be in a 
hurry. I shall have occasion to mention my Abdullah 
hereafter. 

One very interesting apparition, which took place during 
these sittings, must not be omitted. There was, at that 
time, a certain house, in Hammersmith, which had been 
badly haunted for years past ; so badly, indeed, that the 
mistress of it, a single lady, could not persuade any servant 
to stay with her during the night, when the haunted spirit, 
an old man, used to enter her bedroom, and shake her in 
her bed, exclaiming: " Get out of my house. Get out of 
my house ! " She must have been a plucky old lady, for 
she used to reply : " It is my house, not yours,^"* and go 
quietly to sleep again. Some of our circle, however, hav- 
ing heard of this spirit, and obtained the permission of the 
mistress of the house to hold a seance there with Mr. 
Husk, had assembled, the week before, and interviewed 
the ghost, who had abused them all roundly, in turn. 
They had, however, extracted his history, and the reason 
of the purgatory he was undergoing, from him. He said 



190 THE SPIRIT WOELD. 

that, one hundred and fifty years before that time, he had 
occupied the house, with his only child, a daughter ; that 
this daughter had been led astray, and that when she 
became a mother, he was so enraged, that he had put the 
poor, little baby on the fire and burned it to death, and 
the sight had so maddened the unfortunate young mother, 
that she had rushed upstairs and flung herself from the 
roof of the house, being smashed to pieces on the stones 
beneath. The Thursday after this sitting had been held 
in the haunted house, at Hammersmith, John King in- 
formed us that this pleasant old gentleman had followed 
his medium home, and he had great difficulty in preventing 
his being annoyed by him in the intervening time ; that 
the murderer's spirit was in the cabinet at that moment, 
and most anxious to manifest itself ; but John would not 
allow him to do so, without the permission of the circle, 
as he was earth-bound and low, and not likely to do us 
any good. But, on the other hand, if we consented to 
interview him, we should be helping him to rise and break 
the chains that held him to this world. Of course, we all 
gave a hearty consent ; I, for one, being most anxious to 
see what the old wretch was like. In a few minutes, 
therefore, he appeared. I do not think I ever saw a viler 
countenance. I can only compare it to that of a decom- 
posed "Fagin." His eyes were small, and sunken in his 
head, beneath the most formidable shaggy eyebrows. His 
nose like an eagle's beak ; his lips protruding, sensual, 
and of a blue tint ; his hair, matted and filthy ; his nails 
like claws, and his hands covered with hair. He was either 
deformed, or crouched, as he walked slowly round the 
circle, muttering to himself, in a whining voice : " Lord, 
how long, how long ? Will this torture never end ? Why 
can't I die ? Why can't I die ? " This was another case, 
where the spirit was so human, that it could not realize 



THE SPIEIT WORLD. 191 

it had passed out of the body. Most of the circle shrunk 
from this dreadful spirit with aversion ; and, indeed, he 
looked quite ready to murder some one else. As he neared 
my side, rubbing his hairy hands together, and muttering 
to himselfa I leaned forward, and said with one of my 
sweetest smiles : ^^ My friend, don^t you know that you 
have passed over ? You are not in the body at present. 
You died years ago." He turned his lascivious, vicious face 
towards mine, glared at me for a moment, and then hissed 
out : "Damn you. I didn't.'^ Which courteous return for 
my civil piece of information shut me up altogether. 

After this spiritual Sir Charles Grandison had left us, his 
daughter materialized and spoke to us also. She was a 
pleasant-looking girl of, perhaps, twenty, dressed in the 
fashion of her time, in a mob cap, and a kerchief pinned 
across her bosom, her curling, brown hair falling each side 
of her face. She thanked us for having let her and her 
father come amongst us. It was the first time, she added, 
that they had quitted the house at Hammersmith since 
their crimes had been committed ; but she hoped, now, that 
they would never go there again, but commence to soar 
upwards. It was a repetition, as far as the freeing of their 
earthly bonds, through our intervention, was concerned, 
of the " Story of the Monk,'' which I give in my former 
book. I never saw either of them again ; but it is an ex- 
perience that made a deep impression on me. 

I had permission to take a young gentleman friend to 
one of these sittings, it being the first materializing seance 
he had ever attended. I was aware that this gentleman 
had three living brothers ; but of what babies had died, in 
his family, I had never been told, and he, himself, had 
almost forgotten. Soon after we were seated next each 
other, however, a young man came from the cabinet 
straight up to my friend, and gazed at him very earnestly. 



192 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

I asked him if lie recognized the spirit as any one belong- 
ing to himself^ and he answered " No/^ The spirit came 
up several times, however, until I instigated my friend to 
ask if he could give his name, and say Avhat relation (if 
any) he was to himself. He did so, and the answer was 
" Brother." " Have you lost any brothers ? " I asked, and 
he nodded in reply, as he demanded of the spirit, " Which 
brother ? " The answer was given, unhesitatingly, " Willy.*^ 
I then examined the appearance of the spirit and per- 
ceived that he possessed the same eyes as my friend ; a 
pair of very large ones, of the darkest blue. After the 
seance, I expressed my surprise that I had never heard 
that he had lost a brother, and he said : "Well, that is not 
surprising, for I had almost forgotten it myself ; but the 
two babies born before me, were boys, and both died as 
infants, one being called Frederick and the other AVilliam, 
and that is really all I know about it." If Mr. Husk repre- 
sents these materialized spirits himself, "making-uj)" (as 
the sceptic suggested to me), whilst inside the dark cabinet, 
it is remarkable that he should be able to guess at the 
names and sexes of dead babies, that even their own rela- 
tions cannot remember. The young man, who aj^peared 
to us, looked about twenty. On my remarking this, my 
friend said that he would have been two and twenty, had 
he lived. The spirit answered : "No, four and twenty !" 
which proved to be correct. 

I have spoken only of the forms which appeared, at these 
sittings, for myself and immediate friends ; but almost 
every one in the circle received satisfactory tests of the 
presence of their own belongings. Naturally, however, 
one does not take much notice of the advent of strangers, 
unless they have made themselves famous, in some way or 
other. One instance, liowever, intruded itself on my 
notice. 



THE SPIEIT WORLD. 193 

The gentleman I have already mentioned as Mr. Douglas 

^M , had lost a sister, called Mary, who had been the wife 

of an officer, who had served in India, and whom I will call 

Captain . " Mary,^^ who was a very sweet-looking 

spirit, appeared several times to Mr. M and his wife, and 

so convinced them both of her identity, that they became 

anxious that Captain should also see her. Mr. 

M — — told me that Captain was a great sceptic'; but 

he. thought that if he once saw the spirit of his wife, he 
would believe. For this purpose, he organized a private 

sitting, to which he should bring Captain , the only 

other sitters being his wife, himself, and me. This plan 
was carried into execution, and, on the day apjDointed, we 
four assembled at Mr. Husk's house. The reason of our 
meeting there had been made no secret with the medium. 
He had had plenty of time given him to make his prepara- 
tions ; he had (as the sceptics would say) most successfully 
imitated the spirit of Mary before ; the fact of his doing 
it again, might have led to great advantages for himself — 
wherein, then, lay the difficulty of recalling her ? Yet, as 
the event proved, some insuperable obstacle intervened. 
We had a most successful seance ; several friends of the 
sitters appeared, but no Mary. I must tell you that the 

fact of Mr. Douglas M having spoken witli the spirit 

of his sister had been carefully withheld from Captain 

, as they were anxious to see if he recognized his 

wife, as readily as they had done. They confidently ex- 
pected to see her reappear, but the time went on and 
there was no sign of her. Suddenly, an old Indian tunc, 
which I well remembered to have often heard played on 
the tom-toms, in the bazaars of Madras, sounded on the 
little stringed instrument, which lay upon the table, and 
is called "The Fairy Bells,'' and I exclaimed : "Why, that 
is the old bazaar tune.'' Captain seconded the 



194 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

assertion, and, immediately, a dark Indian face appeared 
on the table, and stopped before him. He recognized this 
face as belonging to an old " kitmaghur '^ of his, who had 
lived in his service, for sixteen years, in India, and ad- 
dressed it in Hindustani, to which it volubly replied. 
They kept up a conversation for some time, and Captain 

acknowledged himself to be perfectly satisfied as to 

the identity of the spirit, with whom he had conversed. 
Now, there are two points to be observed, for the genuine- 
ness of Mr. Husk^s manifestations, in this incident. In 

the first place, since he knew that Mr. M was most 

desirous that his brother in-law should see the spirit of 
" Mary,'^ and had organized the meeting, expressly, for 
that purpose, why did not "• Mary " appear, and increase 
his own reputation as a medium? Secondly, since for 
some reason or other, " Mary " was not forthcoming, and 
Mr. Husk (presumably) substituted a " made-up " Indian 
spirit in her stead, how was it that he could converse, 
fluently, in Hindustani, with his duped client ? My object 
in putting these and similar questions down in black and 
white, is to make reasoning people exert their faculties to 
solve them ; not to moke fools exclaim : " 0, it cannot be 
true, because ice have never experienced anything of the 

sort." Captain was a sceptic. He accompanied his 

brother and sister-in-law to Mr. Husk's, expecting to be 
present at some fraud ; yet, he saw and talked with an 
Indian servant, whom he had known for sixteen years, so 
that he was not likely to be mistaken in his identity ; a 
servant, whom his relations had never seen, and never ex- 
pected to see. Besides, Hindustani is, perhaps, the most 
difficult language to master in the world. Very few Indian 
officers can pass an examination in it, and to be able to 
speak it like a native, means to be perfect in its use. If 
Cecil Husk i)ersonated tliat native head, liow did he 



THE SPIKIT WORLD. 195 

manage to speak Hindustani^ so that an officer, who had 
lived amongst the natives, detected no error in his speech 
or pronunciation? It is ridiculous to imagine that he 
could, any more than he could have pronounced the 
Parisian French spoken by the Prince Imperial. But 
" Mary '' did not appear during that seance at all, though, 
I suppose, her white drapery and pigments, for " making- 
up,^^ etc., were waiting ready for her, on the table in front ' 
of the medium. 

This was not a cabinet seance, but a table one, i. e,, the 
sitters sat round a table in the dark, holding each other's 
hands, whilst the spirits' faces and busts, only, appeared 
before them. This is the usual way in which Mr. Husk 
sits, as the production of the full form takes double the 
strength out of him. I have received some most satisfac- 
tory manifestations under these conditions. 

I will tell you how my dear old mother came to me there; 
but I must first relate the story of her death, which took 
place on the 13th of February, 1883. She was a very old 
lady, and much disapproved of the custom of piling flowers 
on coffins, which is carried to such an extent nowadays. 
She had been to see an old friend, lying dead, a short time 
before her own death, and animadverted strongly on the 
absurdity of having found her withered corpse, covered with 
beautiful white flowers, just as if she had been a young 
girl. " Mind, no flowers ! " were almost the last words she 
repeated, as she was dying, and, in accordance with her 
wishes, we decided not to put any on her coffin. But, on 
the day her coffin was closed, I bought a large bunch of 
deep, purple, sweet-smelling violets, and divided it into five 
small bouquets, one for each of her daughters, and as I 
placed them on her breast, I said: " You said 'no flowers,' 
mother, but you won't mind these violets, just one bunch 
for each of your daughters." It was an early spring that 



196 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

year^ and the perfume of the violets was so strong, that it 
filled the room whilst they remained in it. My mother 
had been very restless and delirious for some days before her 
death; but, during the last hours, she regained conscious- 
ness and recog-nized us. Seeing me stooping over her, she 
whispered ^^ Sing, Flo — sing ^ Eock of Ages,^ ^' which I, ac- 
cordingly, did, and very soon afterwards she passed away. 
I had not seen my mother, nor heard from her, till, one 
evening, I entered Mr. Husk's seance room, in company 
with twenty or more strangers, and, as we did so^ we all 
perceived a strong smell of violets, though it was in the 
month of August, when no violets were blooming. The 
ladies turned to each other, asking " Have you any violet 
scent about you ? " or " Have you any violet powder about 
you ? '' But I said : " This smell comes from no scent or 
powder. Can't you smell it is the scent of fresh violets." 
But, still, I did not connect it with any idea of my mother. 
When the sitting had proceeded a little, the " Fairy Bells '' 
played " Rock of Ages." Mrs. Husk, who was present, asked 
me: " Is that for you, Miss Marryat ? I do not remember to 
have heard that tune played here before." Then the com- 
bination of the violets and the hymn brought my mother to 
my mind, and I said: '' I am not sure; but I think I recog- 
nize it." At the same moment, a fresh hunch of violets , 
wet toith dew, was thrust under my nose, and I had hardly 
had time to exclaim, with astonishment, at tlie circum- 
stance, before a hand was laid on my shoulder from behind, 
and I heard my motlier's voice whisperiiig: "Yes, dear, it 
is I ! You were very naughty to put flowers on me when 
I told you not to do so; but I am glad of it now, for I shall 
always come to you with my two symbols, tlie hymn and 
tlie violets." It was on that occasion tliat I asked her: 
" Are you quite happy, now, mother dear ? " and she an- 
swered: "Yes ! quite luippy; but Flo ! it is all so very 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 197 

different from what I imagined/^ You will see from this^ 
that Mr. Husk grows cleverer and cleverer as these sittings 
proceed : for he has now not only discovered (what I never 
told him^ nor any one else) that I had put violets in my 
mother's coffin, against her expressed wishes; but he has 
learned the secret of producing them fresh, sweet-smelling, 
and wet with dew, in the middle of August. He "did 
ought " to make his fortune. 

One day, I was sitting, by invitation, with some very 
hard-headed sceptics, who were investigating Spiritualism 
purely from a scientific point of view. They were three 
barristers, and two of them sat either side of Mr. Husk, 
holding his hands firmly in theirs. Presently, I heard 
them speculating on the possible identity of a spirit who 
was before them, but with its back to my end of the table. 
"It is an American," said one of the gentlemen; "they con- 
stantly wear those pointed beards." " Looks to me more 
like a foreigner," replied the other, "after the style of 
Francis the First." Presently, the spirit came round to 
my side of the table. As he caaght sight of me, all his 
features relaxed in a smile, and he said: "Oh ! Florence, 
my dear, I was looking for you. So glad to meet you 
again, my dear — so glad ! " I recognized him at once as 
my brother-in-law, Lynall Thomas, who passed away the 
end of 1887. He was almost a naturalized Frenchman, and 
always wore a small pointed beard and waxed mustache 
in the French fashion. He was a very handsome man, with 
delicate aquiline features, not easily imitated, and had a 
most refined look. You will observe that the strangers 
sitting with me, who had never met him in this life, de- 
scribed his personal appearance accurately, and I mention 
these, apparently, trivial things, in order to prove that it is 
not my imagination alone that transforms waxen images, 
or rag dolls, into the semblances of my lost friends. 



198 THE SPIRIT WOELD. 

Lyiiall Thomas lias come to see me several times since, and 
I am always glad to welcome his appearance. 

Mr. Husk used to hold what he called an open seance, on 
Sunday evenings, and I have witnessed some affecting 
meetings, whilst attending them, between the spirits and 
the utter strangers who happened to sit next to me. 

There was a sad case in the newspapers, some few years 
since, when a whole family was poisoned from eating tinned 
salmon, and one little boy, called Richard Parker, died 
from the effects. I was at Mr. Husk's the evening little 
Eichard reappeared to his father, who was my next neighbor 
at the table. I saw the child's spirit; a little school-boy of 
about ten or twelve, with close-cropped hair, and I heard 
him speak to his father of his home, mentioning everybody 
there by name, enumerating the playthings and books he 
had left behind, and saying to whom he wished them given, 
sending his love and kisses to his mother, and asking when 
she would come to see him there. His father was much 
affected by the interview; but we had a long conversation 
afterwards, when he told me many particulars about his 
little son. I have sat with Mr. Parker several times since. 
He has another and older son in the spirit world, named 
George, and, on one occasion, when Mrs. Parker was 
obliged to go over to Ireland, to see after the sale of some 
property there, " George '^ came to his father, and, in my 
hearing, gave him all the information concerning his wife 
that he had not had time to receive through the j^ost, 
even to the sale of the property, and how much it had 
realized, all of which proved to be correct. I have seen 
mothers and fathers at these sittings, with the tears pour- 
ing down their cheeks as they spoke with their children 
again. 

Some people are very fortunate in getting proofs of 
spirit-identity quickly; others have to wait some time; but 



THE SPIEIT WOKLD. 199 

my belief is, that the only thing needed to ensure ultimate 
success, is perseverance. 

A lady came over from Bruges, with an introduction 
from my sister, who is resident there, to ask me to put 
her in the way of seeing some materialized spirits — she 
didn^t care what spirits, so long as she could see them. On 
enquiry, I found she was only going to remain in London 
from Thursday to Monday. I told her it was impossible 
to investigate Spiritualism in a couple of days; that, if she 
went to a public seance, she would only be very much dis- 
appointedj and I would rather not have anything to do 
with it. But she begged and prayed me so, to direct her 
to a reliable medium, that she might, at least, see some- 
thing, that, at last, but very reluctantly, I gave her the ad- 
dress of, and an introduction to, Mr. Husk, and she attended 
his Sunday meeting; he knowing no more of her than she 
did of him. The first spirit who appeared that evening, 
however, was that of a nun, who had been an intimate 
friend of the lady from Bruges, and died a short time be- 
fore. " Sister Catherine," I think she called her, and she 
was followed very quickly by the spirits of her brother and 
stepson, to both of whom she had been much attached. 
This good fortune, for which she was as unprepared as I 
had been, made the lady a Spiritualist at once, but every 
one cannot expect the same results. I conclude she must 
have been a medium herself, without knowing it, but I 
know no more of her than I have told you. 

Some other friends — two young ladies — whom I sent to 
Mr. Husk, had a very curious experience. They, also, 
were staying in town for a very short time, and had only 
one evening to spare for their pursuit of Spiritualism. 
They sat with Mr. Husk, but they did not see the person 
they had had in their minds when going there. The spirit 
of a young man, however, came, several times, for the 



200 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

younger sister, insisting she knew him, though she could 
not recognize him in the least. These two ladies, there- 
fore, returned home not so well satisfied as the other. The 
next evening, they had stalls for the Lyceum, to which 
they were accompanied by an officer — a man who ridiculed 
all idea of Spiritualism, or ghosts, or anything supernat- 
ural. They had been watching the play very attentively ; 
when it was about half through, the eyes of the younger 
sister were directed towards an empty stage-box, on the 
opposite side of the theatre, when, to her amazement, she 
saw, sitting there, alone, with the white covering over his 
head and shoulders, the same spirit who had come for her 
so pertinaciously, in the seance room, the evening before. 
She thought it must be an optical illusion, and rubbed her 
eyes, to see if she were dreaming ; but, still, the apparition 
remained immovable in the stage-box. The young lady 
then attracted the attention of her sister to the sight, who 
saw it as plainly as she did. But now comes the remark- 
able part of the story. Being unable to believe the evi- 
dence of their own senses, the ladies, after a while, asked 
the unsentimental and unbelieving soldier, who sat between 
them, to glance in the direction of the stage-box, and tell 
them what he saw there ; and, to their astonishment, he 
described the spirit just as they saw it — with the white 
drapery about its form ; with large, dark, mournful eyes 
gazing fixedly at tlie younger sister. The two sisters 
might have been deluded into tliinking they saw what was 
not there ; but how about the sceptical officer, who had 
had no preparation for such an event ? '^I'ruly, there are 
more things in Heaven and earth than are dreamt of in 
our phik^sojiliy. 

Sometimes, wlien lie feels tliat he is amongst friends, 
John King gives the most remarkable tests, at Mr. Husk's 
seances, of his own power, and that of his nuMliiun. I have 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 201 

often seen him walk out of the cabinet, fully formed, and 
place one illuminated board above his head and another 
beneath his bare feet, to show his height, which is con- 
siderably over six feet. I have seen him hold a slate, so 
that both hands were visible, and then let one hand de- 
materialize, till it was no larger than a dolFs, whilst the 
other remained the normal size. He has very small and 
beautifully-formed feet, for a man, of which, I think, he is 
a little vain, for he always seems pleased when people 
notice the fact. He plays exceedingly well on the Fairy 
Bells, which is a rough, little instrument, more a child's 
plaything than anything else, and only strung with wires, 
without flats or sharps. I cannot imagine how he handles 
it ; for I have tried to produce an accidental on it, without 
success. One day, as he was floating it in the air, playing 
meanwhile, he told us he would give ns a descriptive scene 
on it. He premised that once, when he was flying his 
black flag over the coast of Spain, he ran inshore to a small 
town, about the time of evening prayer, and, whilst the in- 
habitants were in church, he sacked the town, and then 
set fire to it. Upon the alarm being given, the bells, which 
were ringing to call the people to prayer, were, suddenly, 
changed into the fire alarm, and clashed out inhar- 
moniously. The effect, he said, was one that he had never 
forgotten, and he would try to reproduce it for our benefit. 
I shall not soon forget the execution which followed this 
description. It was most artistic. You could hear the 
quiet summer evening, and the church bells chiming, first, 
and then the attack, the hurry, and rush, and noise ; and 
then the attack, the alarm, the raging fire, and the clash- 
ing bells, which turned the peaceful scene into one of fear 
and carnage. It is impossible to describe the scene, as it 
would be impossible to imitate it. And, all the while, the 
Fairy Bells were careering wildly round the ceiling, whilst 



202 THE SPIKIT WORLD. 

they were fingered without one false note. John King 
will take the Fairy Bells np to the ceiling, as I have de- 
scribed, pass them through it to the room above, where 
you may hear them playing in a more subdued key; then 
on to the roof of the house, where they sound as if far 
away. He has even, in my presence, brought them down 
again outside the window of the seance room, and played 
them there, before bringing them back into the circle. 
" Ebenezer '^ also plays them, but not so skillfully as John 
King. Mr. Husk^s controls will lift the heavy musical box, 
which is a weight for any man to carry, off the table to 
another part of the room; wind it up, when required, so 
vigorously, indeed, that they have broken it more than 
once, and give all sorts of physical manifestations. 

The seance is usually opened by the spirit of Cardinal 
^N'ewman, who, carrying a cross of fire, goes all round the 
circle to bless it ; and closed by the spirit of an Armenian 
priest, who recites the Kyrie Eleison in Greek, as a fare- 
well benediction. 

These are some few of the wonders which I have wit- 
nessed under the mediumship of Cecil Husk, and can bear 
testimony to, amidst a score of fellow-sitters. These sit- 
tings were not held for me alone. They were conducted in 
a crowd, who can all testify to the good faith of the 
medium — who have, for the most part, tested him, year 
after year, and know what they believe. Shall such a man 
suffer from the allegaticns of men who are too ignorant to 
understand what is going on, when those who have made 
Spiritualism tlie study of their life can bear witness in his 
favor ? 



205 



CHAPTER X. 

SOME PRIYATE EXPEEIEKCES. 

I have been very amused, lately, by the discovery that 
Bessie Eussell Davis and I are regarded, by some people, 
as members of a species of Mutual Admiration Society,, 
pledged to support each other^s opinions, on the principle 
of "You scratch me and Fll scratch you." Also, that, 
because I edited, I wrote the whole, or the greater part, of 
her book, ^' The Clairvoyance of Bessie Williams." Both 
ideas are totally wrong. Bessie and I have been intimate 
friends for over fifteen years^ and it is hardly possible that 
either of us could write of a pursuit to which our lives have 
been pretty well devoted without introducing each other^s 
names. We live near together; we meet constantly, and 
we seldom meet without having a sitting of some sort ; 
therefore, to eliminate the mention of one another, from 
anything Ave may write on Spiritualism, would have to be 
done purposely. As to Bessie's book, the only part 1 con- 
tributed to it was to take down a few notes given by 
the spirits while the medium was under control, and to 
write the brief preface introducing the author to the 
public. When I am asked, at the present moment, who is 
the best clairvoyante in England, I say, Mrs. Eussell 
Davis, because I do not know of a better ; but I can as- 
sure my readers that the information is given, not from 
any hope of emolument for advertising my friend, but 
purely from a desire to benefit the persons who apply to 
me for it. Bess and I, however, have many a pleasant time 
together, when no thought of publicity enters our heads. 



204 THE SPIRIT ^YOELD. 

January the first, 1893, was Dewdrop's birthday, or so 
she said. I don't quite know how she makes it out; but 
she says she has been in the spirit world four hundred 
years, and yet has only had seventeen birthdays. Anyway, 
for some AYeeks before the dawning of 1893, she had prom- 
ised to come to supper with me on her birthday, and to 
bring her medium, and Mr. Davis, and the children with 
her. She also begged to choose the supper, which was to 
consist of a roast turkey and various other dishes. Accord- 
ingl}^, on the first, they all reached my house about six 
o'clock in the evening, Bessie being under control from 
the minute she crossed the threshold. Almost the first 
thing Dewdrop told me, was that she was so sorry she had 
not brought her birthday presents to show me, but her 
^' Medio '' had forgotten them in the hurry of departure. 
The " papooses " (as she calls Mab, George and Alona) had 
bought for her, with their own money, some colored glass 
bangles, from the Crystal Palace, and she had fully in- 
tended to wear them at her birthday feast. But they had 
been left behind; so she had to console herself with telling 
me how pretty they were. 

Xothing particular happened until supper was an- 
nounced, when Dewdrop and. Ned were in full force. 
Dewdrop said she wanted to do something " very good, 
indeed '' — something that "Flo^^ might be able to tell 
people of. She asked us to advise her as to what it should 
be. Mr. Davis and I and the elder children suggested 
various "doughty deeds," none of which seemed to meet 
with her approval ; until Alona, the baby, called out : 
*^ Why don't you go to Norwood and fetch your bangles, 
Dewdrop?" " But where is 'em? " asked Dewdrop, dubi- 
ously. " / know," answered Alona. " In mother's work- 
basket, in her room." " I'll fetcli them," cried Dewdrop; 
" you just lower the gas a little, Flo, and keep quiet, and 



THE SPIEIT AVORLD. 205 

don't mind if Medie looks a bit bad^ and Fll be back di- 
rectly/^ We did as she told us; and, in about the space of 
five minutes, we heard the jingling of the glass bangles,, 
as they were clinked against each other, close to the ceil- 
ing. '' Turn up the gas,^^ said Dewdrop; and, as we did 
so, we saw Bessie was asleep, with her hands folded on her 
breast, and three bangles on either wrist. When we con- 
gratulated Dewdrop on her success, she replied: "I should 
have brought them over sooner, but that little warmint, 
'Lona, told me they was in the Medic's work-basket, and 
they was on the drawing-room mantelpiece, instead. But 
here they is, for all that, and aint they pretty ? '' Dewdrop 
did not let her " Medie ^^ oS, even after this feat, but kept 
her under control all supper-time. 

The dining-table not being large enough for the pur- 
pose, the meal had been laid upon two tables set close to- 
gether, but with separate cloths. Towards the close of it, 
a gentleman friend of mine made his appearance, and took 
a seat at the head of the second table. As soon as he was 
settled, and had a plate of turkey before him, Dewdrop 
whispered to me : " What shall I do for Bertie ? Shall I 
go back to Norwood and fetch something else from Medic's 
house?" I opposed this idea, saying I was afraid it would 
try Bessie's strength too much, and suggested she should 
do something easier. "Very well" replied Dewdrop; and» 
the next moment, the two tables were rolled away from 
one another, so that my friend, who sat at the head of 
one, found himself pushed against the window of the room; 
whilst Bessie, who occupied the seat opposite to him, was 
sent with her back against the sideboard, leaving a hiatus 
in the center, where the children and Mr. Davis and I sat 
watching the departure of the remainder of our supper. 

On one occasion, Bessie and I were going to a ball to- 
gether, and stayed at a certain hotel for tlie night. As we 



206 THE SPIRIT WOKLD. 

sat at dinner, side by side, sundry knocks began to be 
heard under the table, at which our neighbors looked 
rather surprised ; but we, purposely, took no notice of 
them. This made Dewdrop determined (I suppose) that 
we should recognize her antics; so, as I lifted a glass of 
water to my lips, it was suddenly chucked out of my 
hands, and spilt over the cloth, whilst I had to bear the 
onus of being clumsy and awkward. As we were dressing 
for the ball, we remonstrated with Dewdrop on her con- 
duct, but she was incorrigible, and said she meant to do 
much worse than that. She was delighted with the music 
and the dancing, and, as Bessie and I sat, side by side, in 
the ball-room, the former could see Dewdrop and Ned 
taking part in all the fun. Dewdrop was dressed in her 
Sioux costume of paint and feathers, with embroidered 
moccasins on her feet, and Ned was in a sort of Foresters', 
or Robin Hood, dress of green, and both were taking, ap- 
parently, the greatest delight in the dancing. Presently, 
the Barn Dance was announced, and Dewdrop returned 
and whispered to me: "Now, I'm going to show you what 
I can do. You see those two girls in blue and white? 
I'll make them kick so high that every one in the room 
shall look at them." I told Bessie what she had said, and 
we watched the upshot closely. The two girls, beside whom 
Bessie could see Dewdrop prancing, became more and 
more excited as the dance proceeded, till I really thought 
they v/ould be called to order by the stewards of the cere- 
monies. They kicked higher and higher, till they might 
have been matriculating for the music halls, whilst wicked 
little Dewdro]) kicked beside them. Their faces grew 
redder and redder; their hair became disordered; and, at 
last, their chaperons thought it time to interfere, and the 
Jijirn Dance was ended. Dewdrop was immediately by my 
.^ide again, delighted with her success. "There! did you 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 207 

see them? Didn^t they kick till they could kick no 
higher ? But, if they had seen it done on the stage, they 
would have put their fans before their faces, and said: 
' How improper ! ^ '' Dewdrop has a keen sense of the 
humbug of this world. 

When we returned to the hotel, there was a second sup- 
per spread for us, to which, perhaps, a dozen people sat 
down. It consisted of light things, such as sandwiches, 
cakfis, jellies, etc. We had scarcely taken our seats, when 
everything on the table, jellies, sandwiches, and the rest, 
commenced bobbing, and jumping up and down in their 
dishes, to the amazement of the uninitiated. As for 
Bessie and myself, the bobbing and jumping, and the looks 
of astonishment, were, altogether^ too much for us, and I 
laughed till I cried ; but the more I laughed the more the 
jellies danced, till I thought I should have gone into 
hysterics. This was Dewdrop all over. She is always 
playing some mischievous prank or other, though she can 
be as solemn as a judge, when necessary. 

I knew from Bessie's former experiences, that she must 
possess materializing powers, but never thought that her 
guides would let her sit for materialization, or that she had 
the requisite strength for it. She had often remarked to 
me, however, that, when we sat together, in the dark, for 
clairvoyance, she could see my figure enveloped in an 
orange cloud ; and added that I must, necessarily, possess 
physical power, orange being the tint for materializing 
aura. 

Shortly after, we were desired by Dewdrop to sit in 
private for materialization— Bess, Bob (Mr. Davis) and I. 
She promised that, if we would persevere, and admit no one 
to our seances, till she gave us leave, we should obtain great 
results, and I am sure she would have fulfilled her word. 

The first evening we three assembled in Bessie's drawing- 



208 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

room, we had not tlie faintest idea that we should get any- 
thing. We put out the light, as desired, and sat round a 
small table, but without joining hands, having previously 
placed paper and 2:)encils on it. In a few minutes, Bessie 
went under control, which we ascertained by getting no 
answer when we addressed her. The next thing we heard 
was the advance of a chair, from the other side of the 
room. ^^Bob," I said, "hold my hand. I feel creej)y.^^ 
The next minute the chair had reached the side of his, and 
a form, sitting in it, laid its head upon his shoulder. In 
answer to his questions, he found this was the spirit 
(though not fully materialized) of his guide, Alona, after 
Avhom his little girl was named. I have not mentioned 
that the room was a very small one, and the door had been 
carefully locked, as we were sitting under test conditions, 
not knowing what great results might not ensue from our 
modest beginning. Bessie is inordinately fond of flowers, 
and cultivates a garden, in l)oxes, on the leads of her 
house, which were tAvo stories above where we were sitting. 
The next thing which happened was the placing of several 
chrysanthemums — we found, afterwards, that they were 
nine in number — on my lap, by Florence. " 0, Florence,^' 
I exclaimed, " where did you get these flowers ? I hojDe 
they are not Medie's white chrysanthemums," for I knew 
how Bessie prized her seedlings. "Yes, they are,'" rejilied 
Florence ; " all white ones, beauties." " But Medie will 
be so vexed to lose them." " 0, no ; she mustn't be. How 
can we show our power, if we are not to bring anything 
into the room ?" "AVell, don't pick any more, will you ?" 
" No, we'll try something else." In tlie next room, which 
was the dining-room, the three children were sitting, 
amusing themselves with their toys, and on the mantel- 
piece were two heavy bronze vases. In another minute, 
these two vases were placed on the table in front of us. 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 209 

tlioiigh the next room was gas-lit, and tlie children knew 
nothing of their removal. Then we heard the direct voice 
of Julius Caesar, the negro who followed me home from 
Boston, and attached himself to Bessie. The readers of 
^^ There is no Death ^^ may remember that, in writing of 
the mediumship of Mrs. Eva Hatch, I mention seeing the 
materialized spirits of a negro and negress, and kissing 
the latter. The former was Julius Caesar, Avho, now, con- 
stantly manifests to us. He is a very strong spirit, and his 
voice is loud and distinct. It sounded as if he were stand- 
ing just behind the medium. Then another direct voice, 
but quite from the opposite side of the room, spoke to us 
as follows : '' I am the spirit of Mesmer. I have taken 
the charge of this circle, and I shall not leave it, until the 
spirit form walks out in the full light, and takes a seat 
beside the human form.^' After the sitting broke up, I 
found a little note on the table, written by Florence, for 
me, and to the paper of which was pinned a pink rosebud, 
though we were unable to trace where it had come from. 
The note was as follows : '^ Dearest, we are all here, ready 
to assist in your seances ; and everything will come to pass 
as Dewdrop has prophesied, only you must attend to all 
she says. Good night.^^ 

This was such a fine beginning, that we anticipated 
grand results ; indeed, we could not see what the culmina- 
tion of such forces might not lead to — Bess, Bob and I, not 
only being mediumistic, but all in sympathy with each 
other. But, I regret to say, our anticipations have not 
been fulfilled. Bessie's engagements are so numerous, 
that they leave her too much exhausted for private investi- 
gation ; added to which, she did not obey Dewdrop's 
orders, but invited strangers to witness her materializing 
mediumship before it was ready for inspection, so that she 
lost force instead of gaining it, and, though we often sit 



210 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

together, it is done irregularly, and is liable to many in- 
terru23tions. It seems as though the two phases of 
mediumship, clairYoyance and materialization^ cannot exist 
together, or, rather, that one of the two must lose in 
consequence, and the clairvoyance is the higher power. 
Were Bessie to give herself up to physical manifestations, 
she would get wonders, but the question is, if her strength 
would stand it. 

On another occasion that we three sat together, we had 
the materialized forms walking round the room, kissing us, 
and touching us ; my daughter, Eya, especially, giving 
evidence of her presence in a very striking manner. She 
was noted, during earth-life, for the length and thickness 
of her hair, which fell far below her waist, and on each 
occasion that she has manifested, besides speaking in the 
direct voice, she has thrown her masses of hair all over 
Bob's face and mine, so that we could take it up, in a 
bunch, in our hands, and feel its texture. That she had 
begun to manifest so freely, was my deejDest source of 
regret, in having to give u]) these sittings. 

Whilst other manifestations were going on, Julius 
Caesar would show his power, by opening the doors of the 
cabinet and scattering its contents, in the shajDe of letters, 
newspapers, etc., all over the floor. 

One evening, when Bessie had admitted a young man, 
of my accquaintance, to these sittings — a man weighing 
eleven stone, who was seated on a chair near the mantel- 
piece — Julius lifted him up, chair and all, until one of the 
legs rested on the mantelpiece, and then let him down, with 
such a run, that he broke the two front legs off, a circum- 
stance which Bessie did not, at all, approve of, when slie 
came out of her trance. 

Another time, when we were sitting round tlio table with 
friends, amongst which were gentlemen, and Ik'ssie was in a 



THE SPIEIT WOELD. 211 

normal condition, she had put on a pair of easy old boots, 
which were very comfortable, but all trodden down at heel 
and out of shape, and such as she would never have dis- 
played for the benefit of the public, being a natty little 
woman, and proud of her feet and hands. She felt nothing 
during the seance, but after it was over, and the gas was re- 
lighted, there appeared two curious objects in the middle 
of the table. " What is that ? " exclaimed more than one 
of the party, as they all pressed forward eagerly to solve the 
mystery; when, to poor Bessie's horror, what should it 
prove to be, but her pair of old boots, which Julius had 
contrived to slip off her feet, without unlacing them, or 
giving her the slightest hint of what he was doing. Didn't 
she roast him for it, that's all ! 

Once, when sitting at table — a large dining-room table 
this time — in company with my cousin. Colonel Fitzroy 
Marryat, a terrific sound came over the boards, exactly 
like that of a horse galloping away. The hoofs positively 
thundered over the table. We all looked at each other in 
astonishment, for this seance took place in the light, and 
asked: "What can it be?" Bessie put the questions: Who 
was there, and for whom did he come? The answer was: 
" My name is James Carey, I come for Colonel Marryat." 
James Carey, it may be remembered, was the name of the 
poltroon who galloped away, and left the poor young 
Prince Imperial to meet his cruel death alone, and, on en- 
quiry, we found that Colonel Marryat had a slight acquaint- 
ance with him, though I forget whether he was aware that 
he was dead. He utterly declined to have anything to say 
to him, however, whether dead or alive — indeed, every one 
there shrunk with loathing from the idea of contiguity 
with such a specimen of British pluck and valor. But 
the ring of the horse's hoofs over the table was not to be 
mistaken. 



212 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

In the autumn of 1892, I had a young lady staying with 
me, to whom I am deeply attached. One Sunday evening, 
she told me it was her greatest desire to attend a seance, 
never having sat at one in her life. I proposed at once 
that we should pay Bessie a visit and join her Sunday even- 
ing sitting, which she holds sacred, as a rule, to her chil- 
dren; but, being a sort of privileged nuisance on the 
premises, I ventured to intrude upon her family gathering. 
I wouldn^t advise any of my readers, however, to follow my 
example. We found her at home, as usual, and I intro- 
duced my young friend to her. We had hardly settled 
ourselves down to the table, before my daughter Florence 
manifested, and, going up to my friend Emmie, kissed her, 
and said: "I am so glad you are going to marry my 
brother, and be my sister. You will make him very happy, 
and you will be very happy yourself. God bless you." This 
was all high Dutch to me, not a word having been breathed 
by Emmie herself on the subject, and my son being then 
at sea. I glanced across the table, with elevated eyebrows, 
and asked: "Is it so?" and received an answer in the 
affirmative. Afterwards, I was told that the news of the 
engagement had only been withheld from me, until my son 
should return from sea and tell me himself, but the spirits 
had anticipated him. It is impossible to hide anything 
from them. They know it before you do, yourself. 

Several of my acquaintances have had their eyes consid- 
erably opened by Bessie's controls. It is so difficult to 
convince them beforehand, that they will be turned inside 
out, like an old glove, as soon as they deliver themselves up 
to their tender mercies. It is useless for me to say, when 
they urge me to accompany them to an interview with 
I^essie: "You had much better go alone. Unless your 
past life is like a sheet of white paper (and very few lives 
are), you will not thank me for accompanying you to Mrs. 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 213 

Eussell Davis. I warn you that she will see through you, 
as if you were a pane of glass, and she will call ^ a spade a 
spade ' when she talks to you." They are always so cer- 
tain that their past lives are white, unwritten pages, or 
rather, they do not believe what I tell them, and, in many 
instances, the results have been ludicrous. 

One lady insisted upon my going with her, to her first 
interview with Mrs. Eussell Davis. When I urged the un- 
written page theory upon her, she replied : " I only want 
to consult her about some plans my husband has in his 
mind. I have some questions I want answered. How shall 
I set about it ? " " Write the questions, or rather, let your 
husband write them," I said, " on a sheet of paper, and 
seal it up in a blank envelope, and when you see Mrs. Davis, 
don^t tell her anything about your husband or yourself, nor 
give her the least hint of what you want, but just place 
the envelope in her hands and she will answer the questions 
to the best of her ability." The lady commenced to inform 
me that her husband had been unfortunate in business, but 
had an opening for something else, etc. " Please don't tell 
me any more," I said, ^^ or you will think there is collusion 
between my friend and myself," and, at last, she was silent. 
On the appointed day, I met her at Mrs. Russell Davis' 
house, and, after having conversed on ordinary topics for 
awhile, we proceeded to business. The lady held a hand- 
bag, and out of it, she now drew an envelope portentously 
sealed with three seals, which, I naturally concluded, con- 
tained the questions relating to her husband, which, she 
had told me, she was so desirous of having answered. 
Bessie took the envelope and held it against her forehead 
for a few seconds, and then asked : " What is it you par- 
ticularly wish me to tell you about the person of whom 
these questions are put ? Is it his examination you are 
anxious about, or his health, or his feelings towards your- 



214 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

self V ^'1 should like to hear everything you can tell me/^ 
replied the lady^ growing rather red. "Well! he won^t 
pass his examination this time, at any rate/^ replied Bessie. 
'"' He has been too easy-going about it — too self-confident — 
he thinks too much of his abilities^ and does not exert him- 
self sufficiently. It is the story of the hare and the tortoise 
over again. He has plenty of ability, but he is very indo- 
lent, and whilst the hare has been sleeping, he will find that 
several tortoises have overtaken him.^^ "But will he pass 
eventually ? '' demanded the lady. " Why are you so anxious 
to ascertain? Do you imagine this man is going to stick to 
you ? He is not your husband, you know; he is (or he calls 
himself) your lover, but he will only care for you, so long 
as he can get any good out of you. He is not worth think- 
ing twice about, and the sooner you get rid of him, the 
better.^^ The lady looked rather uncomfortable, and I 
could not resist whispering to her: "So, this is the white, 
unwritten page ! '' Whereupon, she produced a second en- 
velope from her bag, and, handing it over to Bessie, said: 
" What do you make of this ? " Mrs. Davis went through 
the same formula as before, and replied : " I find there are 
four questions written here: 'I am offered new employ- 
ment, shall I accept it ? ^ 'Is the man I am dealing with 
trustworthy ? ' ' Should I do better in Australia, than 
in England ? ' and ' What is my ill-health due to ? ^ The 
new employment has something to do witli the management 
of a brewery, and the writer had better not have anything 
to do with it. He is not fit for management. He is not 
sufficiently a man of business. The person he is dealing 
with is honest enough, but tlie venture would not be a suc- 
cess. Now, as for Australia, he sliould go there at once, if 
lie gets a good opening. He cannot manage a brewery, but 
he can brew good beer, and if he went to Australia and 
opened a brewery for good English ale, he would make his 



il 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 215 

fortune. What is tlie matter with him ? Well ! that is 
easily answered. You are the matter with him ! His nerves 
are all shattered. You are too much for him in every re- 
spect, mentally and physically, and the sooner you are 
separated, the better for him." Now, this lady was a per- 
fect stranger to me before I took her to see Bessie, but she 
told us, afterwards, that every word the medium had spoken 
(and there was a great deal of private matter which I have 
omitted here, as of no interest to the reader), was essen- 
tially true. And this is but one instance out of a hundred. 

I have heard Bessie say things that have sent respect- 
able (?) wives and mothers flying out of the room, in horror 
at hearing their secret errors shown up to the light of day; 
her controls are as honest as herself, and never wink at 
wrong-doing and deceit. In fact, you cannot deceive her 
— white lies, or fibs, or whatever you may choose to call 
them, are thrown away on her, for she knows you are ly- 
ing, directly you open your mouth. She has told me that 
her wonderful gift of clairvoyance makes her very sad, 
sometimes, as she passes through the world, and sees the 
shams and wicked deceptions that are carried on — men, 
with full faith in women, who are rotten to the core, and 
vice versa — and members of both sexes, apparently, in good 
health and anticipating long lives, when she sees that a 
few months will end them. 

It so happens that, though Bessie and I have been ac- 
quainted for so many years, she never met my daughter 
Eva, who was the first wife of Victor Stevens, the actor 
and composer. My daughter was so much away in the 
provinces, with her husband, after her marriage, that she 
never knew Bessie till after her own death. At that time 
the Eussell Davis^ were living down at a place, in the 
country, near Hendon, called Grays. As soon as Bessie 
heard of the dreadful distress I was in, on losing my be- 



216 THE SPIKIT WOKLD. 

loved girl, who died in childbirth, at mj house in 
London, she begged me to go and stay with them, for 
change, and as soon as it was possible, about a month 
afterwards, I did so. Bessie was then expecting the ad- 
vent of her youngest child, Alona, in a few weeks, and 
before I had been in the house three days, her controls sent 
me home again. They said that the sj)irit of my daughter 
was so close to me that, if I remained, Bessie might suffer 
in her coming trial, as Eva did, from blood poisoning, 
Avhich (as everybody knows) is most contagious, especially 
for women in the same condition. My whole system had 
been much shattered at that time, and I was nervous to a 
degree ; and I can remember how I used to lie awake, at 
night, and listen to Bessie, in the next room, the door 
of which, I insisted, should be left open between us, talk- 
ing to Eva, and begging her to say what she wanted, or 
Avhat she could do for her. At last, the strain was making 
us both so ill, that the spirits insisted on my leaving Grays. 
Bessie often saw my dear girl before I did, and I was always 
most curious to learn how she looked, and all about her. 

One afternoon, in the autumn of 1892, Victor Stevens 
brought his burlesque, " Bonnie Boy Blue," to the Crystal 
Palace, and Bessie and I went to see it, together. As it 
was proceeding, she told me that Eva, Florence and Dew- 
drop were mingling with the throng before us ; Dewdrop, 
as usual, joining in all the dances, Florence wandering 
about the stage, dressed in white, and Eva leaning against 
a portion of the scenery, watching the whole business 
most attentively. I thought this very strange, for my 
daughter had never played in burlesque herself. She had 
been of great assistance to her husband, though, in all his 
business, keeping his accounts, designing the dresses and 
superintending tlieir manufacture, and generally doing all 
tliat a highly educated womaii could do, to forward his 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 217 

interests. "But what can Eva have to do here?" I asked 
Bessie; "I should have thought this was the last place 
she would care to come to." ^^She has her husband's 
interests, still, to look after, and, for her children's sakes, 
she is most anxious that everything he does should suc- 
ceed. She watches for the direction in which success lies 
as eagerly as she ever did whilst on earth, and she influ- 
ences him with new ideas, and makes him see where things 
are likely to go wrong." " Tell me what she looks like," 
I urged ; for I would give the world to be able to see 
clairvoyantly, as Bessie does. " Does she seem sad, or gay ; 
and how is she dressed ? " " She looks serious," answered 
Bessie, " but not sad ; her hair is unbound, and hangs, 
almost, to her knees ; and she is dressed in a brown cloth, 
or tweed gown, with squares upon it of a lighter shade. The 
bodice is cut slant-wise across the front, and buttoned 
with large, brown, wooden buttons. She looks very differ- 
ent from Florence, who is dressed in some clear, soft, white 
material." "Why should Eva not be clothed in white, 
also?" I put this question as a test. "Well, I imagine," 
said Bessie, " that Eva is simply clothed with the thought 
of the sort of dress she wore, whilst occupied in the same 
business in earth life. Did she ever possess a gown like 
the one I have described ? " Now, the fact is, that the 
brown tweed dress, with the large buttons across the front, 
was one of the very last dresses my poor girl wore in this 
life, and I had recognized the description of it as soon as 
Bessie mentioned it. The forecasts that come to her, in- 
tuitively, aud whilst in a normal condition, are often the 
most remarkable which she makes. She always says that, 
if she cannot '^ see " for a person, at the first glance, she 
never likes to trust her prophecies for him afterwards. 
And I affirm that, in her normal condition, she is a more 
reliable prophet than any of her controls. 



218 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

As she was sitting at my table, one day, she fixed her 
eyes on a gentleman sitting opposite her, and exclaimed, 
without any preamble : " That young man will make a 
name for himself, but not in his present profession. He 
will leave that, and write ; yes, I see it plainly now — he 
will make his name in dramatic literature.^^ 

This prophecy set all present, including the gentleman 
himself, laughing heartily, for he was on the stage, and 
had never, even, dreamed that ho could use his pen. Two 
years after, however, Bessie's prophecy came true, in so 
far that he found he could write, and, since that time, he 
has done so well that there is every probability that the 
second part of it will come true, and he will abandon the 
stage for a higher walk in art. 

I am, as most of my acquaintances know, a great dog 
lover, even "Ouida," herself, being unable to give me 
points in this particular ; I am, also, the owner of some 
valuable bulldogs, from which I have been anxious to 
breed. To breed bulldogs successfully, however, is an art 
in itself, and one which few men have been able to master. 
For one bull puppy that lives, nine die ; and for one that 
turns out worth anything, fifty are good for nothing. I 
had, therefore, experienced many disappointments, and 
was beginning to despair, if I should ever rear a bulldog 
that would repay the trouble and anxiety. " Ned '' knew 
of my failures, of course, and duly sympathized withthem^ 
and, wliilst on a visit, with liis medium, to some friends of 
hers in Ireland, he wrote me word that he had seen the 
very dog for me, and, if I consented, he would buy it. 
Knowing tlie exorbitant price good bulldogs fetch, I was 
dubious of giving Master Ned carte-blanche in the matter ; 
but he was resolute tluit I must have that particular dog, 
so I left it all to him. 'J'his was ^^Killiney Shamrock," an 
animal well known in his own country, where he had won 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 219 

each time he had been shown. He was bred by Mr. How- 
ard Waterhouse, of Killiney, with whom he was a great 
favorite. Now, Bessie has an unconquerable fear of my 
bulldogs (indeed of everybody's bulldogs), and they always 
have to be shut away when she pays me a visit. The first 
time she saw " Killiney Shamrock," in Ireland^ following 
his master, and coming towards the house, she flew inside 
the hall door, and slammed it after her, sooner than en- 
counter him. Presumably, Ned undid the door again, how- 
ever; for, the next time she came to herself, she was seated 
on the floor of the hall, with " Killiney Shamrock's " huge 
jaw, well opened, in her hand, as Ned had been examining 
his mouth and teeth. She told me she was nearly frightened 
into a fit. Next thing was that Ned said to Mr. Water- 
house : "Look here, Mr. Waterhouse, I want that dog of 
your'n, Shamrock." ^'^ What do you want him for?" en- 
quired Mr. Waterhouse, who is well used to the vagaries 
of Bessie's controls. "You know your medium wouldn't 
have him in her house. She is too much frightened of 
him." '' I don't want him for my medium," replied Ned, 
with a certain air of contempt for Bessie's non-doggy quali- 
ties ; "I want him for a pal o' mine up London way, Florence 
Marryat, and I mean to have him." Mr. Waterhouse 
objected at first, for he had refused a large sum for the 
dog, but Ned's entreaties prevailed ; and, since he knew 
Shamrock was coming to a good home, he consented to 
part with him for a (comparatively speaking) small sum. 
He said, afterwards, that he was sure that, had he refused, 
Ned would have ^^ spirited " the animal away somehow, so 
he thought it better to give in with a good grace. Ned 
was positive that Shamrock would turn the luck of my 
kennels, and I believe he is right, since he has, already, 
sired fifteen pups, from two mothers, and won honors at 
each show at which he has been exhibited. He is, also, a, 



220 THE SPIKIT WORLD. 

perfect-mannered dog, with a sweet temper, and most affec- 
tionate disposition, and is, I need not add, a great favorite. 

People often ask: What good does Spiritualism do ? I 
have found it of infinite good to myself, putting aside all 
its higher uses of convincing one of the reality of another 
life. My spirit friends are always ready to help and ad- 
vise me in mundane matters, even as mundane as bulldogs; 
and, in any difficulty, I should take their advice in prefer- 
ence to that of any mortal. Not that I consider them in- 
fallihle, by an}^ manner of means, but, as Florence once 
said to me, when I called her my good angel : " Not an 
angel, mother; but your little star, that goes before you to 
light the way. I can see a little farther than you can, but 
only a very little.'' 

Whilst I am speaking of the uses of clairvoyance, I would 
like to mention the name of Mrs. Wilkins, of 368 Porto- 
bello Road, London, W. So many correspondents have 
written to me for the address of Mr. Towns, who passed to 
the higher life, two years ago, that they may be glad to 
hear of Mrs. Wilkins, who, with some sitters, has given 
wonderful proofs of her power. I repeat, with some sitters; 
for it seems difficult to convince beginners that clairvoyants 
are not equally successful with all. Mrs. Wilkins is the 
wife of a tradesman. She has no opportunity of mixing 
with the upper classes, nor of finding out their secrets; 
and, if her clairvoyance were all guesswork, she would 
surely find something pleasanter to say, or to foretell, and ! 
not run the risk of offending her clients. One of the best * 
proofs of the genuineness of clairvoyance is the outspoken- 
ness with which men and women, of a class inferior to our 
own, scourge our pleasant vices to our faces. 

A very young married couple once asked me to accom- 
pany them to Mrs. Wilkins'. Neither of them were be- 
lievers in Spiritualism, the young Avoman being especially 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 221 

disposed to ridicule the whole affair. Mrs. Wilkins did 
not seem to have much to say to them while in a normal 
condition ; but, as soon as she passed under control, she 
asked if they had any questions to put to her. The girl 
immediately said: "Tell me if I shall ever be married? ^^ 
and, to the surprise of us all, the answer was " '^o.'' The 
husband, struck by the reply, asked, in his turn: "Shall 
I?^^ "Yes,^^ said the clairvoyant, decidedly; "but not 
just yet. You will marry when you are some years older^ 
and you will marry a good woman, who will make you 
happy. It will be a true marriage, body and soul.^^ The 
wife, who had been glancing at me the while, as if she 
would say : " So this is your fine clairvoyant,^'' now put in 
her oar, thinking to quash the whole proceeding. " Well,. 
we are married ; so there ! '^ she said to Mrs. Wilkins. 
This announcement did not appear to disturb the spirit wha 
had been speaking, in the least. She did not even change 
countenance, as she replied : " 0, you mean you have been 
to church together. Yes, I know; but that does not con- 
stitute marriage. There is no silver cord of love from 
your heart to his. Many a couple, who come to consult 
me, and who have never been tied by a parson, are much 
more married, in the eyes of God, than you are." The 
young wife was somewhat offended by this declaration, 
and said, as we walked home, that she supposed Mrs. 
Wilkins meant that she was to die, as she prophesied that 
her husband would marry some one else. The u|)shot, 
however, is that, at the present moment, four years after- 
wards, he has left the country, and she is in the Divorce 
Court. 

Another acquaintance, an unmarried lady this time, ac- 
companied me to Mrs. Wilkins, on a similar errand. She 
was an only child of wealthy parents, and dressed in the 
height of the fashion. She was completely unknown to the 



222 THE SPIKIT WOKLD. 

clairvoyant, to whom I did not even mention her name. 
Yet, as soon as Mrs. Wilkins passed under control, she 
said to her: "You are the only child of your mother, and 
heiress to her money and that of her husband. But you 
are not the child of your mother's husband; you are the 
child of her cousin." Now, I am not advocating the 
pleasantness, or the advisability, of receiving such a piece 
of information, w^hen it is too late to remedy the evil 
(though, if people go of their own free will to visit clair- 
voyants, they must expect to hear the truth, however 
bitter) ; but I quote the incident, that my readers may de- 
cide for themselves, if it is probable that a woman of Mrs. 
Wilkins' standing would make such a terrible insinuation 
to a lady of birth and position, if she were not impelled to 
do it, by a force superior to her own. Whether the com- 
munication was true is not the question at issue here. It 
is whether any one would dare make such an assertion, on 
no authority but that of imagination. Why, /, who know 
these people, and who am supposed to be acquainted with 
as much of their business as the public will ever know, 
would not presume to guess at such dark secrets, as I have 
heard revealed by clairvoyants in the lowest positions of 
life. Put yourself in the place of, let us say, for the sake 
of argument, a woman like Mrs. Wilkins — always presum- 
ing she is a cheat — and think if you would dare, even if 
yau were full of suspicion, to accuse your most intimate 
friends of adultery, and coldness, and deceit, to their faces. 
And how should a stranger, who has never seen them be- 
fore, and who injures herself hy losing their custom (for 
therein lies the gist of the matter), risk her own reputa- 
tion for truth and reliability, by inventing a scandalous 
falsehood, which could only anger them to liear, and bring 
her to sliame ? 

A married lady once callod to see Mrs. lUissell Davis, 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 223 

accompanied by a young man. Bessie intimated to her, 
that she made it a practice never to sit for more than one 
person at a time, as she could not be responsible for what her 
controls might say. The lady, however, begged that her 
friend might be admitted to the seance, as he knew every- 
thing about her that could, possibly, be told. She was, 
therefore, allowed to have her way. Passing under control, 
Bessie said: " There is a young man standing behind your 
chair who was in such and such a profession, who lost his 
life in such and such a way (I am purposely telling this 
story in an ambiguous fashion, lest the actors in it should 
be recognized), and at such and such a place. You have 
had two sons, one is on the earth plane, and the other in 
the spirit-world. The young man I have described to you 
is the father of your spirit-child. He is holding it in his 
arms now, and he desires me to tell you, that he is thank- 
ful that both he and his child have passed out of your life, 
and will trouble you no more. Your other son is still liv- 
ing. The gentleman sitting beside you is the father of 
that child.'^ Now, here again, is a communication which 
Bessie could never have made on her own authority, even 
had she been aware of it. One would imagine that the re- 
cipient of such a startling piece of news, would have run 
out of the house with horror and never appeared there 
again; but, on the contrary, the best proof that can be 
brought forward of the truth of her communications is, 
that Bessie^s clients go to her again and again, and, in many 
instances, become her warmest friends. They see her con- 
trolling spirits, know all about them; but, at the same time, 
they are convinced it is the spirit, and not the clairvoyant, 
who has turned them inside out. 

I mentioned, in my former work on this subject, that my 
father. Captain Marryat, had never appeared to me, and 
said he never should, and that, in the course of my experi- 



224 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

ences, I had never received a message from him, even, but 
twice, and each time it concerned my son, Francis Fred- 
erick Marryat, and not myself. I have one more instance 
of my father communicating with me to record now, and 
that was also organized for the benefit of my son rather 
than myself. My father has always expressed a great in- 
terest in the career of my eldest son, who is a sailor, and 
was named after him and my two brothers, both of whom 
died in the prime of manhood. This son married last year, 
and, in December, a little boy was born to him. The father 
was at sea at the time of the baby^s birth, and the mother 
had decided to call it " Francis," after her husband. Shortly 
after, Dewdrop brought me a message from my father, to 
say he was disappointed, because the child was not to be 
called Frederick, after himself, and that, if possible, he 
should like it to be so. I communicated his wishes to my 
daughter-in-law, and she altered her baby's name to Fred- 
erick. Then my father sent me word that, if Emmie would 
bring the baby to my house to meet Bessie, he would bap- 
tize it himself. This programme was carried out, and 
though, to outsiders, my assertion may be difficult of belief, 
the ceremony was a most impressive one. When Captain 
Marryat commenced to speak through Bessie — you forget 
that she was a little, fragile woman of five feet nothing 
— her voice became sonorous, deep and rich; her manner 
almost solemn; her attitude, stately and dignified. All my 
late father's determination of manner, and depth of knowl- 
edge and breadth of understanding were there — it was not 
a simple, little woman speaking to you; it was an earnest, 
deep-thinking, eloquent man — with all the asperities of this 
life softened down by a long residence in the spirit world. 
The baby, who, like most healthy youngsters, is a regular 
squawler, appeared almost awe-struck as my father took 
him in his arms, and gazed upwards in his face, as he was 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 225 

speaking, in complete silence. The address given was, as 
every one present agreed, most beautifully worded and de- 
livered. He spoke of the boy's future and his hope that he 
might make the old name famous in his generation. He 
named him " Frederick Ernest Marryat " for this world, and 
'' Hope " for the world to come, because he foresaw, he said, 
that the child would be the hope of both families, of which 
(if he lives) he will be the head. Other spirits succeeded 
my father — Florence, Dewdrop and Goodness — and they 
all made speeches, or prayed for the baby. Altogether, it 
was a time I shall never forget, for I know it to be a solemn 
fact that my dear father's spirit came amongst us again, 
and, perhaps, for the last time before we join him in the 
other world. 

I think, with one more personal experience, I must 
close this chapter. A short time since, being some- 
what out of health, I took a house in the country, for 
change. It was an 'old house, and had been vacant for 
many years, but it possessed a charming garden and was, 
apparently, just what I wanted. I entered it in the month 
of October, with only a maid-servant and groom to set 
things right for me. The first night I slept there, no car- 
pets were down, nor curtains up, and the whole place was 
in a state of disorder and discomfort. But I was dead- 
tired, and, having locked my bedroom door, I retired to 
rest, turning the gas out, as I never can sleep with a light 
in my room. I was first wakened by hearing the door of 
my room burst open. In my drowsy condition, I forgot that 
I had locked it, and, thinking the wind must have blown it 
open, I got out of bed, lighted my gas, and proceeded to 
fasten it again, when I found, to my surprise, that it was still 
locked. It was very strange; but, supposing I must have 
been dreaming, I put out the light and retired to bed again. 
I had hardly done so, when the door burst open a second 



226 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

time. I rose again; but, as it was still fastened, I con- 
cluded some spirits were haying a game with me, and, as 
I don't care for spirits whom I do not know, I left the gas 
alight as I lay down. 

The next time I was aroused, it was by feeling a hand and 
arm slipped, very gently, under my waist as 1 lay on my side 
in bed. I was again very drowsy, and my first idea was, 
that some one had come for the watch that was under my 
pillow, so I made a grab at the hand which was under the 
bedclothes, and held it fast. It pulled and pulled against 
me, with a force that would have been remarkable in a 
mortal, and, finally, pulled itself out of my grasp, but not 
before I had felt that it was a very small, thin hand, with 
an attenuated bony wrist, and claw-like fingers. As soon 
as it got free, I attempted to jump out of bed and seize the 
body it belonged to, but found that my head and shoulders 
were enveloped in some heavy substance, which proved, 
on inspection, to be my traveling rug, which had been 
placed on a chair near the bedside. As soon as I had dis- 
entangled myself, I leapt up, but the room was still empty 
and the door locked. 

The next night, I kept the gas burning, but went fast 
asleep, nevertheless. I had retired very early, having been 
hard at work all day, leaving my servants downstairs. 
Some time later, I was suddenly waked by the noise of 
shouting and laughing, on the staircase outside my room. 
It sounded as if the groom was pursuing the maid up 
the stairs, and she was shrieking and screaming to get 
away from him. Being a great stickler for decorum in 
the kitchen, I was both outraged and disgusted at this sujd- 
l)osed want of respect. " How dare they," I said to myself, 
" make that indecent noise on the stairs, when they know 
that I am in my bedroom ? " and I jumped out of bed, de- 
termined to bring tlic offenders to book at once. Opening 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 227 

the door, I called "Ellen ! " in an authoritative voice, but no 
servants were within sight, or call. Added to which, the 
gas lamps were turned out, both in the upper and lower 
corridors. I lit my own gas and looked at my watch. The 
hands pointed to three. Evidently, the servants were in 
bed and fast asleep, upstairs. 

As soon as possible, I referred the matter to Dewdrop, 
who told me that, many years before, the house I lived in, 
had been a private lunatic asylum; that the spirit who had 
tried to pull me out of bed was that of a lunatic woman, 
who had died there; that she had always been most trouble- 
some to get to bed, and that the shrieking and hysterical 
laughing that had disturbed me, were the sounds she 
made as the doctor pursued her upstairs each night. She 
added that the doctor looked like a foreigner; that he was 
fat and had a black waxed mustache, and she did not like 
him. 

^^But 7 do not like them, either, Dewdrop," I answered; 
^' if they are going to wake me up nightly in this fashion, 
I shall have to leave the house." 

" Florence will take care of that," said Dewdrop. " She 
has already told the woman spirit that she must not enter 
your bedroom again, as she is afraid, if you saw her, you 
might be frightened. Not that there is anything to be 
frightened at — she would not hurt you, only she looks so 
strange — she is so small and thin, and her hair is quite 
white and hangs all over her face. Florence has told her 
she may run about the corridors, but she is not to cross the 
threshold of your room again." 

I felt thankful for small mercies, but would have, in- 
finitely, preferred that the lunatic lady had been banished 
altogether. However, she never annoyed me after that. 

Being curious to test the truth of what I had heard, I 
asked the agent of the house (who had occasion to visit 



228 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

me on business, shortly afterwards) if it had ever been a 
lunatic asylum. 

He stared at the question; " Never f he replied, most 
emphatically. "Whatever put such an idea into your 
head?^^ 

I answered, cursorily, that a rumor of the kind had 
reached me. He told me it was all nonsense; that the 
house had been vacant for seven years before I took it, in 
consequence of the owner's death; that he had occupied it 
for twenty years; and that, if it had ever been used as an 
asylum of any kind, the agent, who had known the owner 
all that time, would certainly have heard of it. So I said 
no more. 

The next time my sailor son was at home, he was sitting 
in my drawing-room, in the dusk, with a lady visitor and 
myself, when she expressed a wish to see a certain book, 
which was in a bookcase in the room he occupied, and 
which was on the same landing as mine. I asked him if 
he would go and fetch it for our friend, and he rose at 
once to do so. In a minute, however, he returned, saying 
it was so dark he could not see the titles of the volumes, 
and must have a light. The lady, however, begged he 
would not trouble himself further, and presently took her 
leave. As soon as she was gone, my son said to me: '^ I'm 
not going up those stairs in the dark again, in a hurry. 
This house is haunted. As I was nearing the door of my 
room, which was shut, it opened, and a woman came out of 
it, and went into Bertie's room, and closed the door after 
lier." 

" Are you sure ? " I demanded. " What was she like ? " 

"A little, skinny woman, with long, thin arms, and a 
lot of white hair liangiug over her face. A horrible-look- 
ing woman; I don't like it." 

After this, lie complained to me more than once of hav- 



THE SPIEIT WOKLD. 229 

ing seen the apparition in his room ; and, when he came 
home with his wife, and occupied the same apartment, he 
told me he had waked up, to find the lunatic's spirit hang- 
ing over his bed, and was in terror lest his wife should 
wake and see it too. 

This was confirmatory of Dewdrop's account, but did 
not explain the agent's denial of the house having been 
used as an asylum. As the autumn drew near, the fruit 
trees wanted more attention than my gardener knew how 
to give them, and I obtained the name of a man who was 
considered a proficient in pruning. He was a very old 
man, with white hair, and, one day, he told me, as we 
were discussing gardening matters together, that he re- 
membered the garden when it had two men and a boy to 
look after it, and was " the sweetest bit o' ground " in the 
place. 

^^ This house has been built for a hundred years now," 
he continued. "I can remember it when my father 
worked here, and I was a little boy. Eh, but they had a 
power o' fruit here then; there weren't no finer fruit, nor 
flowers, in all the country-side." 

"You mean when Mr. B lived here, I suppose," 

I said, naming the owner of the house. 

" 0, no, ma'am," he replied; " I am speaking of years 
before Mr. B bought the place,' when the doctor had it." 

"The doctor! " I echoed, pricking up my ears; " do you 
mean the doctor who used to keep mad people here ? " 

The old man turned round and regarded me in the 
most curious manner. 

"Whoever told you, as he kept mad people here, 
ma'am ? " he asked, peering at me from under his shaggy 
eyebrows. 

" Never mind who told me," I said; "you see I know it. 
Wasn't it the case ? " 



230 HE SPIKIT WOKLD. 

" Well/^ said the gardener, thoughtfully, " I can't think 
however you found it out, for there's hardly a body but 
myself left to tell it you, and I'm sure / didn't. It was 
all kept so dark and quiet, that not a soul in the place 
knew the truth, till the law came down upon the doctor 
one day, and he had to give up his patients, and house, 
and everything. That's the truth, ma'am. There was 
found to be eight or ten mad ladies and gentlemen here, 
and the doctor hadn't no license for keeping them, and I 
heard he got into sad trouble over it. But whoever could 
have told you, now?" 

But the old gardener was never satisfied on that point, 
though I was satisfied that my spirit friends had given me 
the true version of the story. 



231 



CHAPTEE XL 

A CHAKCE SEAKCE WITH A STRANGEB. 

I made a short tour through the provinces this spring, 
to deliver a lecture that proved, on the testimony of the 
Scriptures, that the practice of Spiritualism was both right 
and true. In the course of my wanderings, I arrived at the 
city of Nottingham, where I was met by my host, Mr. 
James Eraser Hewes. It was on a Friday afternoon, and, 
as I was not to lecture until Saturday, Mr. Hewes, {with a 
view to filling up the time, asked me if I would like to 
attend a materializing seance that evening with a Mrs. 
Davidson, of South Shields. I had never heard the name 
of this medium, though, I am aware, there are several good 
ones stowed away in the provincial towns, and I asked Mr. 
Hewes what her mediumship was like. But he, also, had 
never had the privilege of sitting with Mrs. Davidson before, 
so could give me no information on the subject. She had 
been invited to Nottingham, by a gentleman of the name 
of Bostock, who was sitting with her and his friends at his 
private residence. Mr. and Mrs. Hewes had been invited 
for that evening ; but, as for myself, I was supposed to 
be at Walsall, which was the last place I had lectured at. 
It was decided, then, that I should accompany my hosts 
to the meeting incognito, and, after tea, we set out for 
Mr. Bostock's house. This gentleman, though, doubtless, 
possessing every virtue under the sun, does not understand 
the proper conditions for obtaining good materializations. 

It was one of the few warm nights which we have en- 
joyed this spring, and his seance room was insufferably 



232 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

crowded by some thirty gentlemen and ladies, whilst, in 
order to darken the apartment, every breath of fresh air 
was carefully excluded. I felt, on entering it, as if I could 
not stay a minute there. It was like the atmosphere of a 
hothouse. By means of a very narrow gangway, we were 
enabled to get to the chairs reserved for our accommo- 
dation, which proved to be near the cabinet, mine being 
the sixth seat from it. This cabinet, if it can be called so, 
was composed of a piece of green silesia, nailed across one 
corner of the room, with just enough space behind it to 
admit a chair. 

"Where is the medium ?^^ I whispered to Mr. Hewes. 

'^ In the next room,^^ he replied. " She is so frightened 
of going into the cabinet, that the spirits are obliged to 
bring her into the seance room under control, or they 
would not be able to persuade her to enter it." And then 
he added : " How surprised they would be " — meaning the 
sitters — "if they knew who was sitting with them. No 
one knows you will be in the town until to-morrow night. '^ 

At this juncture, Mrs. Davidson entered the room. She 
is a miner's wife, and was dressed in accordance with her 
class ; she has a pleasant face, but, at this moment, it 
looked worried and anxious. 

" 0, this heat ! this heat ! " she exclaimed, looking in a 
bewildered way around her ; " we shall never get anything 
in this heaf 

When I say she said so, I meim the spirit who was con- 
trolling her, and who was a man whose name I did not 
catch. Mr. Bostock immediately asked what he should do 
— should he open the windows, etc. ? This proposal was 
seconded and acceded to ; but still the medium look un- 
easy. 

" So many ; too many ! '' slie murmured ; " we sliall get 
Tiothin^?, I am afraid." 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 233 

Mr. Bostock then asked if some of the sitters should be 
sent away, but the control did not think that would be 
fair. 

^' We must not disappoint them like that," he replied, 
" and when they have come so far. We will do our best, 
friends, and no one can do more. But I am very much 
afraid that we shall get nothing.'" 

So it will be seen that no great things were expected 
from the evening's sitting, and, as for myself, I simply 
prepared to remain in a warm bath till the seance con- 
cluded, and directed my attention solely to keeping as 
still and as cool as was possible under the circumstance. 

And, here, it would not be out of place, perhaps, to 
make a few remarks on the mistakes perpetrated in this 
particular, by people who have organized many more 
seances, perhaps, than Mr. Bostock. A seance room should 
never he crotvded, especially on a warm night. In order to 
procure materialization, it is essential to have a moderate 
atmosphere, neither too hot, nor too cold. The sitters, 
too, should be selected with discretion, being, if possible, 
equally divided between the sexes, and admitting none Avho 
are very feeble or diseased amongst them. And if half the 
claimants for admittance have been used to sit at seances, 
and the other half have not, very few of the latter should 
be admitted at a time. They should be " sneaked in,'' as 
it were, by ones and twos, until their aura shall be 
thoroughly absorbed in that of the more experienced sit- 
ters. Such a system, if carefully carried out, would give 
the influences far less difficulties to contend against, and 
lead to a more successful issue. 

But to return to Mrs. Davidson's mediumship. We sat 
for some time in ^' silence and tears " (of perspiration), with- 
out anything occurring— then a voice issued from behind 
the curtain: " Will the lady sitting in the sixth chair from 



234 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

the cabinet change seats with the lady who is sitting next 
toit?^^ 

This move placed me close to the silesia curtain^ so that 
I could hear the least movement inside of it. I had not 
sat there long, however, before the inside of the cabinet 
was illuminated, by some mysterious spirit light, so that I 
could see the medium sitting in her chair, with her black 
gown on, and the little shawl pinned across her shoulders, 
whilst her head was sunk forward on her breast. A lady, 
who was sitting just behind me, said she saw it too, i. e., 
that she perceived the strange illumination, which seemed, 
to her, as if she were facing an uncurtained window in the 
daylight; but she did not see the medium's figure, as I did. 
Yet, though I perceived this quite plainly, I saw no spirits 
forming, as heretofore, nor anything except the medium. 
Presently a child's voice — one, I believe, of the medium's 
controls — asked the circle to sing something, and we joined 
in a well-known melody. The curtain was pulled on one 
side, and a little girl, of about nine or ten years old, in ap- 
pearance, peeped out and disappeared again. 

"Who is that?" demanded Mr, Bostock; " can't you tell 
us?" 

" That's little Gertie," was the answer, " come for the 
lady sitting next the cabinet. Sing something livelier, 
please; she likes lively tunes." 

The sitters then struck up a hymn in quicker measure, 
and " Gertie" came out again. This time she held up her 
white skirts and swayed from one side to tlie other in a sort 
of slow dance, showing her little bare feet. I asked lier to 
speak to me, or kiss me, but at each request she disappeared 
again, so I did not press the point. After she had shown 
herself four or five times, she retreated, making way for 
my daughter Florence, whose appearance I can never mis- 
take — she is so slender and young and virginal-looking. 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 235 

with such a saintly air about her, as if she came fresh from 
Heaven. Knowing her to be such a strong spirit — strong, 
I mean, in being able to show herself to mortal sight — I 
thought her presence might save the seance and turn it 
into a success, so I exclaimed : " Florence, I am so glad 
you have come. Do show yourself more plainly, if possi- 
ble, for we are afraid we shall not have much of a seance 
this evening." 

But Florence did not appear inclined to come out into 
the room; on the contrary, as I addressed her, she drew 
backward, and laid her finger on her lip. I reiterated my re- 
quest, and then she bent her head forward, till I could hear 
her whisper: " Not to-night, mother ! Some one is coming." 

But I had not the least idea to whom she alluded. I 
begged her to tell me. "" Who is it that is coming, Flor- 
ence ? " I said. 

She bent her head forward again, and whispered in a 
very low tone, " Eva ! " 

My heart literally stood still. This is the name of my 
beloved eldest daughter, whom I had the misfortune to 
lose in childbirth, nearly seven years ago, and whom I have 
been longing and praying to see ever since, but without 
effect. I began to tremble so violently I could hardly keep 
still on my seat, and I felt as if I should suffocate. The 
announcement was so unexpected to me. Here was I, who 
had been entreating the Almighty for the last seven 3^ears 
to afford me a little glimpse of this most cherished pos- 
session of my life, doomed to meet her for the first time 
since she had been torn from my arms, in company with 
strangers, who knew nothing of my loss, nor could sympa- 
thize with it. I thought I must run out of the room, to 
avoid making a fool of myself — though why one sliould be 
thought a fool for giving way to a natural emotion, puzzles 
me. 



236 THE SPIKIT WORLD. 

In a few more minutes, the curtain was lifted again, 
and my darling girl, with her little baby in her arms, 
stood before me, but well within the shelter of the cabinet. 
She held out her infant to me, as though she would secure 
recognition by that means. But I could not look at either 
of them. The agony of my spirit quite overcame me, and 
I lost all control of myself. I sunk down on my knees, as 
if God Himself had been before me, and sobbed as I had 
not done for years past. I did not expect that she would 
come again. I thought my uncontrollable grief would up- 
set her, and, perhaps, spoil conditions; but I could not 
help it. Judge of my surprise, therefore, when my darling 
girl, having got rid of her baby, came right out of the 
cabinet again, and, reaching my side, where I knelt there, 
weeping, stooped over me, took my head, and laid it on 
her dear breast, and wiped away my tears with her veil, as 
she kept on kissing me, and repeating: " Don't cry, mother; 
don't cry." At the moment, I could only press my head 
against her, and thank God that He had answered my 
constant prayer, and let me see my darling again; but, 
looking back upon the interview, I can distinctly remem- 
ber and describe the features which struck me most in it. 
Her veil, as it wiped my wet face, felt like silk net, but 
very fine and soft, and it effectually dried my tears, which 
net would not have done; it was, also, scented with some 
perfume-like incense. I could feel the softness of her lips, 
as she kissed me, and her warm breath coming through 
them; and lier whole body seemed to be pervaded with the 
same subtle perfume, as if she had been a sachet. Her 
face was warm and very soft, like the flesh of a newborn 
baby, and those who regarded her more mechanically than 
I liad the power to do, told me, afterwards, that she was 
very pale, and her head and face were much enveloped by 
her voluminous veil. 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 237 

After Eva had left, Florence informed us that she in- 
tended to, and would have, walked out into the circle with 
me, had not my emotion upset her, so that she lost the 
power of doing it. This, with the exception of a few re- 
marks from inside the cabinet, from Mrs. Davidson^s con- 
trols, concluded the seance. Only three spirits had ap- 
peared, and they had been my three daughters. I was 
very sorry for the other sitters, but it was not my fault. 
Nevertheless, I felt terribly guilty, and as if I — the one 
stranger amongst them — had monopolized the whole of 
their evening. The only consolation I had was in being 
told that, if I had not been there, they would have got 
nothing at all. 

The medium was so overcome by the heat that, as soon 
as she was taken into another room, she fainted. Before 
we left the house, some one told her who I was, and she 
asked if I would speak to her. AVhen I saw her in her 
normal condition, and told her what a treat she had given 
me, and how grateful I was to her for it, she told me that 
she knew I was to speak at North Shields before my tour 
was ended, and would I promise, when I went there, to go 
and have another sitting with her at her own home ? I 
promised, more than gladly, to do so, and, in less than a 
fortnight afterwards, I found myself on my way to her 
house. Mrs. Davidson and her friends received me most 
hospitably, and I felt at home with them at once. 

The house was a humble one, in the suburbs of South 
Shields, and the front kitchen, or parlor, in which we sat, 
had a bricked floor. The circle consisted of a few resi- 
dents in the neighborhood, and some of Mrs. Davidson's 
own friends, who sung so heartily, and so much in unison, 
during the proceedings, that they were an example to most 
Spiritualists. They were, evidently, accustomed to sing- 
ing together, and had taken the trouble to practice tlieir 



238 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

hymns and songs. I found that Mr. Davidson was, also, a 
medium, and was under control most of the time, though 
he sat in the circle with the rest of us. 

When we commenced business, the medium particularly 
requested that my chair should be placed next the silesia 
curtain and touching liers, so that she might get all my 
influence. This was, accordingly, done, so that, during 
the whole of the evening, our arms were next each other's, 
as well as our knees. I suppose, if a medium wanted to 
cheat, and was conscious of doing so, that this was about 
the most foolish request she could have made, as the 
slightest movement on my part would have discovered any 
trickery on hers. 

The first spirit that appeared, on this occasion, was, 
also, " Gertie,'^ who came right out of the cabinet, and 
spoke to and touched several of the sitters. I had plenty 
of opportunity this evening of observing her dress, which 
was made in a curious fashion. She seemed to wear an 
under-frock, fitting tightly to her body, over which hung 
a loose robe, reaching from her throat to her feet, of some 
diaphanous material, so that her bare arms and neck could 
be plainly seen through it; and, when she swayed about in 
her dancing measure, and lifted her little arms, it was 
from under the upper robe that I saw them, and they were 
covered by this robe, as she extended them. She was much 
stronger, however, than on the first occasion, and, appar- 
ently, quite fearless. She leaned her two little arms on 
my knees, and jumped, as children will, pressing all her 
weight on me as she did so. She crossed the room and 
shook hands with a lady sitting opposite to me, saying, in 
answer to the question who she was: " Pm mother's little 
Gertie." She ai)peared several times, and, on leaving for 
the last time, dematerialized in our sight, going down 
through, the brick floor. 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 239 

This is what I have seldom seen since I left America, 
though I remember an incident, occurring through the 
mediumship of Mr. Cecil Husk, which I omitted to relate, 
when writing of my sittings with him. Being on chatty 
and confidential terms with all his controls, we had often 
" chaffed '^ Uncle, because he would not show his face to usj, 
and his nephew, Christopher, had declared it was because 
he was too much ashamed of it. Goaded on by this libel- 
ous accusation. Uncle, at last, announced that he was com- 
ing out of the cabinet, fully materialized. We were all 
much interested to hear this, as it is pleasant to meet a 
friend you have known through mutual converse for so 
long, face to face; so we were on the tiptoe of expectation 
to make the personal acquaintance of Uncle. Presently, 
after several ineffectual attempts, which were heralded by 
scornful laughter from his undutiful nephew, poor Uncle 
issued from the cabinet. But either he had miscalculated 
his physical strength, or he did not know the difficulties of 
materialization; for, in the first place, he was not half the 
size he ought to have been, and, in the second, he com- 
menced to tumble to pieces as soon as he encountered the 
mortal gaze fixed on him. He just managed to hobble 
round half the circle, holding his drapery together, as if 
it were too long, and he should stumble over it, when, as 
he had reached the middle of the room — sad to relate — 
poor Uncle tumbled right down in the floor and began to 
melt away. He would have dematerialized altogether be- 
fore us, had not John King thrust his hand out of the 
cabinet, and seizing hold of Uncle's remains, pulled them 
bodily out of sight. I shall never forget the effect of 
Uncle being pulled off the stage, like a bundle of rags, nor 
the shrieks of laughter with which his efforts were re- 
warded. To this day, he does not like us to mention his 
attempt at materialization, and, as he did it simply at our 



240 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

repeated request^ it does seem rather unkind to ridicule his 
faihire. 

But this is a long divergence from my little Gertie. As 
soon as she had left us, Eva appeared again, this time with- 
out her infant, and evidently with much more power than 
at Nottingham. My brother-in-law, Edward Church, 
whom I mention in "There is no Death,^' had given me a 
gold ring, with A.E. I. in dark-blue enamel on it, which ring, 
after his death, I had given to my daughter Eva, in remem- 
brance of him. A month before her own death, I had gone 
down to where she was staying, at Southend, and found 
this ring in her work-basket. 

" If you don't care for this ring of poor Ted's,'' I said to 
her, ^^ I will take it back again; for I don't like to see it 
lying about. Perhaps I should not have parted with it at 
all, as it was a keepsake." 

She replied that she generally wore it; that she had only 
just slipped it off; but that, if I would like to have it again, 
I was quite welcome to resume possession. Accordingly, I 
put the ring on my own finger and gave her some little trifle 
in exchange. Since I lost her, only a month afterwards, I 
liave worn the ring night and day, in memory of her, rather 
than of my brother-in-law. It is quite an unpretentious 
one, and almost hidden beneath my other lings. 

On the night I am writing of, the first thing Eva did, on 
leaving the cabinet, was to put her finger on this little ring^ 
and say: ''My ring, motlier ! " and she twisted it round 
and round on my finger with her own. 

She looked just the same as slie had done on the first occa- 
sion, the only difference that I could perceive from her ap- 
pearance during eartli-life being that her luxuriant hair was 
concealed by the veil twisted round her head, and her face 
seemed smaller than it used to be — more as it looked as she 
hiy in lier coffin, when slie had the semblance of a girl of 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 241 

fourteen. Her hair had been cut off, also, during her ill- 
ness, and I have noticed before, that spirits, on their first 
reappearance after death, generally come as they left the 
earth, and not as they lived on it. 

There was a lady present, a stranger to me (as, indeed, 
was everybody there that night, excepting Mrs. Davidson), 
named Mrs. Elliot, and Eva crossed the room to where 
this lady sat, and, taking her hand, placed it in mine and 
closed her own over them both. I have not yet unraveled 
the significance of this action, though Mrs. Elliot told me 
afterwards that she is a medium, and she fancied my 
daughter wished to signify that she would be able, or would 
like to, manifest through her. That, however, is a riddle 
which has not yet been solved. The action excited my 
curiosity, because Eva was a very undemonstrative girl to 
strangers, and it seemed so unlike her to take at first sight 
to any one. 

During this sitting, she came out of the cabinet five 
separate times, on three of which she drew aside the cur- 
tain, and showed us the medium sitting in her Windsor 
chair, her black dress being palpably distinct against the 
white robes of the spirit. 

An article was afterwards written by Mr. Elliot on this 
seance and published in the newspapers, signed by all 
present, who testified to the appearance of my daughter, 
and the ease with which she spoke and moved about ; it 
cannot, therefore, have been the effect of my vivid imagina- 
tion, only. 

The spirit that succeeded Eva was my Persian control, 
Abdullah Ben-adad Pen-rudah Mahomet Abdullah, to 
whom I have referred before, in these pages. He was 
attired just as he had appeared through Mr. Husk, and 
his black beard was plaited in the same curious manner. 
He addressed himself to no one in the company but 



242 THE SPIRIT ^VORLD. 

myself ; but as he can only speak his own language, I was 
as wise as they were. Abdullah hopes, some day, to be 
able to speak English, or to teach me to speak Persian, 
after which we may be able to converse ; for the present, 
however, we understand each other remarkably well. As 
an English soldier, who had married a Tamil girl in India, 
once said to me, when I asked him how he contrived to 
converse with his wife — neither of them knowing a word 
of the other's language : " Well, ma'am, love has only one 
language all over the world, you know I" So my Persian 
guide can make me understand something of what he 
would say, if we could talk together. On this occasion, he 
came straight up to my side, and bending down first, 
kissed my feet, and, then risiiig, kissed my forehead, and 
stood by me, with his hand upon my head. I knew exactly 
what he intended to convey by these actions : that he was 
at my command ; that he cared for me, and that he in- 
fluenced my brain. After which, he addressed a long 
speech to me, in what I presume to have been Persian, and 
I replied, in English, that I had not understood one word 
of what he had been saying, but that I thanked him for 
watching over me and influencing me. And, at that, 
Abdullah smiled very sweetly, and withdrew into the cabinet 
again. 

He was followed by a Red Indian chief, a control of Mr. 
Davidson, whose characteristics were so markedly dis- 
similar from those of the soft-eyed and voiced Persian, 
that every one present was struck by them. The Red 
Indian literally '^ swooped down " upon the circle, running 
round it in a half crouching position, and making various 
darts at the sitters, as though he would stab tliem, laugh- 
ing loudly and somewhat harslily as they started or slirunk 
away from them. lie had, also, black hair, but long and 
straiglit, without any beard or mustache, and a coj^jper- 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 243 

colored complexion. His arms, too, were bare. He 
whooped once or twice as lie went round the room ; but no 
one responded very ardently to his attentions, so he cut his 
visit rather short. 

A young lady came, next, for an old gentleman present ; 
but, as he sat opposite to me, I did not see her face. He 
told me, however, that he fully recognized her, and that 
she was the spirit of a medium who had been used, at one 
time, to sit in concert with Mrs. Mellon, late Miss Fairlamb. 

Immediately succeeding her, appeared an older lady, 
who was also recognized by her friends, and made the sixth 
form that had presented itself that evening. 

Lastly, came a most interesting apparition, that of a 
woman very closely muffled, who left the cabinet and stood 
just outside, turning her head round and round the circle, 
as if she were in search of somebody. As I sat next to her, 
I said: " Are you looking for some one? Who is it you 
want?'' 

The form turned to me, and pointed with her finger to- 
wards a young man, who was sitting, with two or three 
women, on a sofa, at the further end of the little apart- 
ment. 

" Who is it ? '' I asked her again : " Your brother ? '' 

She shook her head, and I heard her faintly whisper, 
^^ My son, my son." 

I then said aloud to the young man (who was, of course, 
totally unknown to me, even by name) : " This spirit says 
she is your mother. She wants you to come and speak to 
her.'' 

But he shook his head, and turned his face the other way, 
so as to conceal it. The spirit seemed dreadfully hurt. She 
advanced a few steps into the room, and held out her arms 
imploringly to her son. 

Mr. Elliot, who was sitting next me, said to her: " Give 



244 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

him time. He is too much overcome to realize that it is 
yourself.*^ He wore a buttonhole of lilies of the valley, 
and he took them out and placed them in her hand. She 
held the flowers out for the acceptance of her son. Still 
the young man did not make any advances towards her. I 
felt rather indignant. It seemed so much as if he did not 
care; hut I was told afterwards that he was really too 
nervous to encounter the spirit. I spoke to him again; I 
said: "Do you understand that this is the spirit of your 
mother ? Do you not recognize her ? '* 

He replied: "0, yes; I know it is my mother ! I do 
not doubt it; but I don^t want to see her, or speak to her." 

This appeared to be so incomprehensible to me, that I 
said to the spirit: " Perhaps he cannot believe that it is 
you. AVill you let me see your face, so that I may describe 
it to him ? " 

She immediately turned towards me, and eagerly pulled 
the white wrappings off her features, so as to make them 
perfectly distinguishable. Had she been Mrs. Davidson, 
masquerading as the young man's mother, it would have 
been a very rash thing to do. But she did it without 
hesitation, and as though she were anxious that I should 
see her as plainly as I did. As I looked in her face, I said: 
"This spirit has dark eyes, rather small; a long nose, 
pointed cliin, and rather sharp features. Was that any- 
thing like your mother ? " 

"Yes! yes!" rejilied the young man. ^^ It is her. I 
know that perfectly. But I cannot speak to her." And 
he turned his head away again, as if he wanted to bury 
himself behind the young woman who sat beside him. 

The spirit seemed strangely agitated. Whether there 
had been any serious disagreement between her and her 
son, of course, I cannot tell; but I had never seen a spirit 
act as she did before. She sunk down on her knees on the 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 245 

"bricked floor, and hid her face in her hands, and sobbed 
audibly. I bent over her with some words of consolation, 
telling her that her son would speak to her next time; 
that he was too much overcome to do so that evening, etc., 
etc., when she, suddenly, sprung to a standing position, 
and flung her arms round my neck, and kissed me several 
times. I could feel that her face was Avet, and, when she 
went into the cabinet again, she left her tears upon my 
cheek. This is one of the very few times that I have seen 
a materialized spirit weep. 

The circle that sat with Mrs. Davidson and myself, at 
Nottingham, said, afterwards, that, when my dearest child 
wiped the tears from my face, they could hear her sob in 
unison with me; but I was too much affected to notice it 
for myself. But it is a rare occurrence, and, when it hap- 
pens, you may be sure it is /or us they weep, and not for 
themselves. 

The appearance of this spirit exhausted the medium^s 
powers for that evening, and, soon after she left us, a voice 
from the cabinet proclaimed the seance to be at an end. 
He had scarcely doiie so, when Mrs. Davidson stepped out 
from behind her flimsy curtain, and came amongst us 
again, bright and chatty, as she entered it, and with no 
appearance of drowsiness or fatigue about her. 

Now, here were two seances held with a medium who 
had never seen me, or any of my family, or intimate friends 
before; who had never even heard of my name, except 
through my publications; who was in a position where 
she was quite unlikely to have gained any knowledge of 
my private life — its joys, or its sorrows— producing, from 
a bricked floor, the counterpart of my two daughters and 
my Persian control. Where did they come from ? What 
were they? How did she do it ? The theory of a miner's 
wife being able to dress up, and paint her face, and assume 



246 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

different disguises, behind a few yards of silesia, and with 
her chair touching mine, without my knowing that she 
was rustling and fidgeting about, is too ridiculous to be 
believed, even if she were clever enough to assume the 
properties of a " quick-change '^ artist, or if it would be 
worth her while, considering she got nothing for her 
trouble. And, added to this, the forms, who appear 
through her agency, can recognize their friends, as well as 
be recognized, and speak with them on familiar subjects. 
Who, but myself, then present, knew that the little, thin 
gold ring, half-hidden beneath others, had belonged to my 
dead child, or if the old woman, who came for her son, 
had been but an effigy? How could /, a perfect stranger 
to both, have described her features to him, so that he 
recognized them? No, it is evident that the scientists, 
and philosophers, and sceptics, and atheists, must find some 
cause to account for these phenomena, other than fraud, or 
self-delusion. One person may be self-deluded, or insane, 
but the hardest head of the lot would hardly credit a dozen 
people with all being self-deceived at the same time. And, 
mark my words, the day will come, and is not far off at the 
present moment, when the mad people will be those who do 
not believe, instead of those who do. The dead return. 
This is an undoubted truth. That they are not those 
whom they represent themselves to be is the sceptic's 
business to prove. 

Since there has been so much suspicion created by the 
impossibility of allowing much light at a materializing 
seance, I must not close this chapter without describing 
that used by Mrs. Davidson, which was the brightest I have 
seen allowed, since leaving America. The room, as I have 
said before, was a very small one, and a dim light would 
have been sufficient to ilhiminate it. Instead of wliich, 
Mrs. Davidson had an oil lamp, witli a tliiii reflector behind 



THE SPIRIT AYORLD. 247 

it, placed on the mantelpiece, just opposite the cabinet; 
and before the chimney was placed a sheet of orange-col- 
ored tissue paper, loosely crumpled together, which shaded 
the glare, without obscuring the light. I can attest that 
we had not been seated five minutes before I could see 
everything in the room as distinctly as if the lamp had 
been unshaded. I never witnessed less preparations made 
for any sitting, and I consider the manifestations I was 
privileged to see, through the mediumship of Mrs. David- 
son, to be as pure and genuine as any I have ever been 
present at. 



248 



CHAPTER XII. 

A SEAi^CE WITH MR. RITA. 

By the invitation of some old friends of mine, Dr. and 

Mrs. A , I started one evening to hold a seance at their 

house, with Mr. Rita. It had, for a long time, been my 
ambition to sit with this medium, who is a private gentle- 
man, pursuing Spiritualism for his own gratification only, 
and that of his friends. It is very seldom, indeed, that 
Mr. Rita can be persuaded to sit — and then it is only in a 
private circle and amongst people whom he knows. I pre- 
sume he has been compelled to make this rule, or he would 
be inundated with requests for seances, to the detriment of 
his health and his employment. Because it is difficult to 
get a sitting with him, was the principal reason that I was 
so anxious to make the acquaintance of Mr. Rita, and be a 
personal witness of the wonderful powers which had been 
described to me. 

We assembled at the house of Dr. and Mrs. A , at six 

o'clock, and, after having all dined in company, we entered 
tlie seance room. 

There are two most desirable and, at the same time, most 
remarkable peculiarities about the mediumship of Mr. Rita 
— he never uses a cabinet, and he never goes under control, 
so tliat he can enjoy the seance as much as anybody else. 
] [e simply takes his seat at the table, witli the circle, in the 
dark, and his spirits bring their own liglits with them, in 
the fashion of John King. Mr. Rita engages in conversa- 
tion, also, the whole time the seance is going on — addressing 
tlio spirits, in common Avitli liis otlier friends, so that we 



Jl 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 249 

enjoyed the novelty of communion with both medium and 
controls at the same time. 

Before we settled ourselves for the evening, a well- 
known American lady doctor. Dr. M K , joined 

the company. Although she hailed from the United 
States, she had actually never been present at a materializ- 
ing seance in her life before, and was most curious on the 
subject. She, also, had been dining out, but with other 
friends, whom she had begged to excuse her for an hour 
after dinner, to attend this sitting, and she entered, in her 
dinner dress and evening cloak, quite excited by the pros- 
pect before her. I had heard her name, but never had the 
pleasure of meeting her before. She was very handsome, 
with the delicate features peculiar to her country-women, 
and was beautifully dressed. She did not give one the idea 
of a learned doctor, whose time was spent in studying the 
diseases of humanity ; nevertheless, it was true that she 
had attained a name in her profession, and had a large 
clientele of patients. This fact alone augured that Dr. 

M K was a clever and accomplished woman — one, 

whose word would be taken on most scientific subjects, 
and who might reasonably be expected not to be led away 
by her imagination, or her fears. She spoke with me on 
the subject of Spiritualism before the seance commenced, 
and I found her not at all too ready to believe it, or even to 
be convinced of its truth. She expressed herself as very 
curious to discover if what her friends told her concern- 
ing it was worthy of belief ; but, at the same time, she 
spoke most dispassionately and entirely reserved her own 
opinion. Had I been asked, I should have said that Dr. 

M K was just the person to investigate the science, 

for one might be sure of an impartial judgment from her. 

By this time, we had taken our seats round tlie table. 
Dr. and Mrs. A sitting either side of the medium, and 



250 THE SPIKIT WORLD. 

Dr. M K and I opposite to them, whilst the in- 
tervening spaces were filled by strangers to me. We kept 
up a smart conversation the while, conversing on the 
different topics that interested us, Mr. Eita being the 
smartest of us all. 

Almost as soon as the lights were extinguished, a spirit 

face rose up so suddenly before Dr. M K and me, 

and so close to our own, that she called out with surprise. 
It was plainly an East Indian face, with its thin aquiline 
features, and mournful, dark eyes. The head was dressed 
with the national " puggree " of white muslin, twisted in 
the shape of a turban, and in front of it hung a sparkling 
jewel. This head returned several times to show itself, 
and, finally, was accompanied by another of the same 
nationality. The medium did not know who they were, 
but said that they generally made the first appearance at 
his seances. Meanwhile, a familiar control of his, called 
" Charlie,'^ kept up a running fire of conversation with 
him and the circle generally. Charlie seemed very much 

interested in Dr. M K and addressed most of his 

discourse to her. 

Me, he accosted by the title of " Lady No Death,^^ at 
which witticism he appeared to be mightily amused himself. 

Presently, a man's head came, fully illuminated, in front 

of Dr. M K and myself. I had never seen this 

lady, as I have said before; but there was no mistaking the 
likeness between her and the spirit wlio now appeared to 
us. It was that of an elderly man, of perhaps sixty years 
of age, with silvery gray hair, mustache and beard — but 

the same delicate features as Dr. M K , the same 

eyes and mouth and oval-sliaped face. It was just as though 
she had assumed a gray wig and beard. The liead came 

close to her aiul murmured, " God bless you ! " Dr. M 

K exclaimed, " My fatlier ! " and became very much 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 251 

agitated. There could be no doubt in the minds of all 
present that her grief and agitation were genuine. She 
wept copiously, as she addressed the spirit in terms of the 
deepest affection, and assured him how completely she 
recognized him, and how she longed to see her mother, also. 
At this request, the father retreated, to give place to the 
mother, whom she recognized quite as fully as she had 
him. She kept on entreating the spirits to return " only 
once more,''' until I thought we should get no other mani- 
festations that evening — the power was so much used up. 
At last, however, she let them go, but it was some time be- 
fore her agitation subsided. I could hear her sobbing, 
quietly, in the dark, beside me, and considered her testi- 
mony to the genuineness of Mr. Eita's mediumship as one 
of the most valuable Spiritualism could have gained. 

It is the testimony of such brains as those of Dr. M 

K that we want — not the enthusiasm of fools, who 

would worship a scooped-out turnip with a rushlight inside 
it, if told that it was the spirit of their dearest friend. Dr. 
M K had come to that seance a perfectly un- 
prejudiced woman, but, at the same time, a perfectly calm 
and dispassionate-minded one — as ready to expose deceit 
and trickery as she was to acknowledge the faces she saw 
to be those of her parents. It was a valuable proof to me, 
because the faces were as close to me as they were to her, and 
I, not being so moved by their appearance, was better able 
to examine their features and trace the unmistakable re- 
semblance between them and my new acquaintance. 

" Charlie " indulged, now, in a little amicable " sparring "' 
Avith me, because, hearing how loudly he spoke in the direct 
voice, I asked him if he had materialized a perfect thorax 
and gullet. He replied that he had. 

" And have you a tongue and teeth, and everything per- 
taining to the mouth and throat, Charlie ? " I continued. 



252 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

'' Put your forefinger out as far as you can, Lady 'No 
Death/^ he replied, " and I will show you if I have." 

I did as he desired me, and a hand met my finger in the 
dark and guided it to a mouth. It was an enormous 
mouth — a perfect cave of Adullam, where you might have 
hidden seventy prophets. 

"Isn^t that a mouth?" demanded Charlie of me, "and 
a very fine mouth, too ? " 

I acquiesced in his decision. 

" Well, put your finger right in it," he continued; " don't 
be afraid: I won't bite you, and tell them what you feel." 

I put my finger in the mouth, and felt all round it 
carefully. The interior was moist and smooth, like the 
mouth of any mortal. I could feel the palate and the 
tongue, which seemed also very large; then I made a tour 
of the gums, which felt swollen, like those of a teething 
baby; but there were no teeth. I told the circle just 
what I had felt, adding: "You must be very young^ 
Charlie, since you have not yet cut your teeth ? " 

"Yes," he answered; "it is about time I cut them, I 
think. Don't you agree with me ? " and, with my finger 
still in his mouth, all the teeth sprung into existence, 
both of the upper and lower jaw, and Charlie gave my 
finger such a bite that I called out and withdrew it. 

Next, there appeared a magnificent apparition in tlio 
center of the table — an Indian prince, very stout and very 
dark, dressed in white clothing, with chains of gold and 
jewels hung round his neck and resting on his capacious 
chest, and a turban on his head, flashing with emeralds 
and rubies and diamonds. His complexion was very dark 
— almost swarthy — for an East Indian, and his features 
were thick and ugly. 

As he came, Mrs. A exclaimed: "0, here is tlie 

^[.•iharajah I " 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 253 

To explain why such a gorgeous potentate visited our 

little circle, I must premise that Mrs. A had been 

married before, to Captain N , an officer in the Indian 

army, and that, when she was a bride, and a very youthful 
one, her husband and she, in company with several other 
Europeans, were invited to a state dinner with the Mahara- 
jah of (I forget the name of his dominion). As Mrs. 

N was very young and very fair, and the only lady 

present, the Maharajah, who was also then quite young, 
took a great deal of notice of her, and, when the state 
dinner was concluded, he asked leave to conduct her to the 
presence of his mother, the Eanee, who resided in the 
palace, but, of course, according to Oriental customs, could 
not be present at the feast. Captain N at once ac- 
ceded to this request; but the poor little bride was 
frightened out of her wits at the idea of having to go 
away alone with the Maharajah, and vehemently declined 
to do so. The Maharajah's brow grew dark at her refusal, 
and her husband, fearful lest her obstinacy might lead to 
something unpleasant with their host, insisted on her ac- 
companying him, to be introduced to the Ranee. 

Mrs. A has described to me her state of abject terror 

as the Maharajah took her by the hand and led her away 
to the women^s apartments of the palace. She had to 
accompany him up dark stairs and through dark passages, 
all the time fancying, in her girlish folly, that she might 
never see her husband again, or might be detained there 
for life, or murdered by the dark-complexioned Indians, 
whom she dreaded. However, nothing worse happened 
to her, than being introduced to an old shriveled-up lady, 
who looked more like a monkey than a woman, as she sat 
huddled up on a pile of cushions, and wlio was the chief 
woman in the palace, being mother to the reigning sover- 
eign. The Eanee looked at her curiously, and asked 



254 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

several questions, concerning her, of her son, in their own 
language — all of which was double Dutch to their trem- 
bling yisitor — and then the ordeal was over, and the bride 
was safely conducted back to the arms of her natural 
protector. 

But Mrs. A , although many years have gone by 

since that time, and she is the mother of grown-up sons, 
has not yet forgotten her feelings on the subject, and told me 
that the reappearance of the Maharajah, even as a spirit, 
recalls them vividly to her. She did not know that he had 
departed this life, until he came back through Mr. Rita; 
but, she says, she can recognize him perfectly. 

This splendid apparition remained long enough for 
every one to see him quite plainly, and to examine the 
magnificent jewels that he wore. 

He was succeeded by the spirit of Captain N , who 

constantly visits his wife. Mrs. A has told me a curi- 
ous circumstance concerning these visits. Both Dr. A 

and his wife have been married before, and his former wife 
and her former husband are amongst the most constant 
yisitors in their seance room. But, although Captain 
N is on the most excellent terms with Dr. A , call- 
ing him his "" dear friend," and inditing long letters to him, 
thanking him for his care of, and goodness to, his wife, he 

never names Dr. A as the husband of his wife, but 

always as her ^' companion." He will write or say to the 
doctor: " God bless you for your tender care of my dear 

wife ; " and to Mrs. A : '^ Tell your companion how 

much I thank him for his kindness to you." 

Thus, even in death, thougli we are told that, in the 
next world, there will be no marriage nor giving in marriage, 
the spirits who have truly loved on this earth, will main- 
tain their rights over what was truly theirs. 

I remember an instan(;o siniilai" to tliis, regarding a mar- 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 255 

ried couple, who used to meet, sometimes, at my table. 
The lady had been married before, and the first husband 
would come and talk to her about having married again, 
exactly as he would have done had he been still on earth, 

and she had committed bigamy. Dr. A 's first wife 

and daughter are constantly with him, and the ladies of 
the two families are on the most friendly and kindly terms 
with each other, as, indeed, there is no reason they should 
not be. 

I never could understand jealousy of the dead, myself, 
and think it can only emanate from mean and ignoble 
minds. True love would wish the survivors to make the 
best of the life that remains to them — knowing how short 
it is and how full of evil. But to return to the seance. 

Captain N ^s spirit appeared in the full uniform of 

his regiment, as my friend John Powles did, in America. 
I mention this (as I do all other details that may seem as 
trivial) to show how difficult it would be to maintain 
trickery under such circumstances. Doubtless, that is the 
reason that some spirits are permitted to appear in the 
clothes they wore on earth — to prevent the suspicion of 
foul dealing entering the sitters' minds. What /saw (who 

had never seen Captain N in this life) was a slight 

young man, with dark eyes and hair, and handsome feat- 
ures, dressed, wearing a scarlet uniform, with epaulettes; 
but I cannot describe the facings, as the spirit stood, all 

the time, in front of Mrs. A , and was, consequently, 

turned from me. He came two or three times, and each 
time spoke in the direct voice to his wife. 

By this time, I had begun to imagine that I should not 
see Florence that evening at all; though, had I not, Mr. 
Eita would have been the first medium through whom she 
had not appeared to me. A little later on, however, I felt 
a touch on my shoulder from behind, and, turning round. 



256 THE SPIEIT ^VORLD. 

saw Florence, fully formed, standing behind my chair. 
She had either formed there, or walked round from the 
side of Mr. Eita. I asked him if he had perceived her, 
and he replied that he had seen a female form rise up be- 
side him, but did not know to whom she belonged. I asked 
Florence why she had not spoken to her medium, and she 
said: "I wanted to see you first, mother/' 

Mrs. A was anxious to see my daughter more dis- 
tinctly, as the light she carried was rather dim, and she 
explained it by the fact of her having come so far away 
from the medium. 

"But I will make it a little brighter for mother's 
friend,'' she added; and, stooping down on the ground, 
like a little child, and holding her two hands, with the 
light in them, before her, Florence blew and blew upon it, 
until it flamed up in a spiral curl, like a snake, and 
wrapped her in its light from head to foot. It seemed to 
wreathe around her, as though it would set her on fire; 
but, needless to relate, she smiled serenely from behind it 
in perfect safety, until it flickered to the ground again. 

Florence was clothed, as usual, in white, but of a thicker 
material than I have generally seen her wear — something 
more like white cashmere than muslin, and which covered 
her head and neck. She was just like herself, in other 

respects, and kissed me, and patted Mrs. A 's face with 

her hand, before she walked back to Mr. Rita's side. 

There were three or four otlier spirits, wlio came at that 
seance for the other sitters; but, as they were strangers to 
me, I kept no notes of their appearance. What concerned 
myself I wrote down, and, I think, it is sufficient to jn-ove 
what marvelous powers Mr. Rita possesses. 



257 



CHAPTER XITI. 

ON MEDIUMS AND SPIRITUALIST SOCIETIES. 

I have been asked, more than once, to give my ideas for 
the rules and regulations necessary for a Spiritualist 
Society. Not having had any actual experience of the 
difficulties attendant on the formation of such a society, I 
am not aware if my opinion will be worth much — at the 
same time, I have often noted the failure of such plans, 
and on the theory of " the bystander seeing most of the 
game '' can, at least, jot down what I consider to have been 
the cause. AVere I about to form such a society, my first 
move would be to collect sufficient subscribers to insure 
success, as far as funds were concerned. It is all very well 
to say that, in so high a cause, money should be a second- 
ary consideration, and that no mercenary ideas should 
enter into a spiritual matter. Pray, do not Christians pay 
for the support and promulgation of their religion in every 
church, from the highest to the lowest ? Can they step 
into any temple to say a prayer, or hear a discourse, with- 
out having a bag thrust into their faces, to receive their 
contributions ? Can they enter, or leave, the holy fane 
without being confronted by a plate full of copper and 
silver, to which they are expected to add their share? It 
is all very fine for the parsons to invite their congregations 
to eat honey and drink milk, without money and without 
price; but when do the congregations get it? There is 
not a greater, nor more continuous set of beggars than the 
clergy of the English Church, and they justify their pro- 
ceedings by the text that " the laborer is worthy of his 



258 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

hire/^ I do not den}^ the statement, but I contend that 
the Spiritualist should no more expect to enjoy the privi- 
leges of his religion for nothing than the Christian. 

We live in an age of greed and heavy expenses. Noth- 
ing is to be had for nothing in the year of our Lord 1894, 
and the time is past when congregations could assemble 
under the greenwood tree to hold their meetings of prayer 
and praise. A Spiritualist society must have a room to 
assemble in and preachers to conduct its services, just 
like the Christians, and such luxuries have to be paid for. 

People who were curious to dive into the mysteries of 
Spiritualism, have said to me, on more than one occasion: 
" But I wish there was no money business about it. It 
seems to me that it would be so much easier to believe if 
there was nothing to pay. Money and Spiritualism should 
have nothing in common. Directly, the money question 
creeps in, it makes one fancy there must be fraud." 

But why? Is there, necessarily, fraud in the Church 
because pew-rents are heavy and subscriptions unceasing ? 
Are the ministers necessarily fraudulent because they draw 
their stipends quarterly, and gladly rush from a poor 
parish to a rich one, because it pays them better ? And 
why should mediums, who expend far more strength on 
the exercise of their profession than any of the clergy, be 
grudged the reward due to. their great work ? 

My answer to such cavilers usually has been: "I have 
not tlie least doubt but that you would like it better if 
there were no money in question; that you would greatly 
prefer to get everything free; to take all you could and 
give nothing in return, and then go home to say that the 
medium had clieatcd you for the sake of gaining notoriety. 
But what would you say if I were to ask you to walk from 
liere to London and back, in order to fetch me a book that 
should convince me of some vital truth? Your answer 



THE SPIRIT WOELD. 259 

would be that you could afford to expend neither the 
time nor the strength for such an exploit, and that, if it 
were absolutely needful I should have the book, I had 
better pay some one to get it for me. 

If you want, therefore, to enquire into the truth of a 
doctrine that may give you the certain assurance of a 
future life, you must pay the medium, whose vital powers 
are fearfully weakened by the use of the powers which will 
conyince you. But, as soon as it comes to the question of 
paying for their experience, the majority sheer off. 

I have been disgusted by the meanness displayed by 
scores of my acquaintance in this particular. Even total 
strangers will send me locks of hair, and written queries, 
with demands for the solution of some mystery, through 
the means of my clairvoyant friends, never seeming to con- 
sider that, if they obtain what they ask for, it is tanta- 
mount to entreating a draper to give them a few yards of 
ribbon, or a pair of gloves, for the mere pleasure of serving 
them. 

The first thing, then, I should look after, in the formation 
of such a society, would be the coin. I would test the sin- 
cerity of those who had expressed a wish to co-operate with 
me in the venture, by naming an annual subscription, to 
be paid in advance. If the members of the proposed so- 
ciety should be people of good position, there should, also, 
be an entrance fee of one guinea, and the annual subscrip- 
tion should be the same. 

There need be no limit to the members of the society. 
If the number should exceed twenty, the meetings for the 
purpose of sitting should be divided amongst them, /. e., 
the first twenty on the list should have admittance to the 
first professional seance, and the next twenty to tlie second, 
and so on. 

Having secured the great desideratum, my next thought 



260 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

would be to hire a suitable room to bold the meetings in. 
This must yarv, of course, with the means and generosity 
of the members; but I would not be responsible for form- 
ing a society, until I could command the hire of two fair- 
sized rooms, or one large one, which could be held sacred 
to the seances, and put to no other uses during the intervals 
of the meetings — the key being left, during such periods, in 
the charge of the secretary. 

What a seance room should be like, I have described in 
the chapter headed ^'- How to investigate Spiritualism.'^ It 
should be uncarpeted, and the walls should be bare. The 
furniture to consist of a deal table^ unpainted, and as many 
cane-bottomed chairs as necessar3\ The window to be pro- 
vided with a thick, dark-woolen curtain, to be drawn across 
it during the sittings. When the seance is concluded, the 
curtain to be withdrawn, and the window opened, to admit 
the fresh air until the next time of using the room; the 
table and chairs, also, to be washed Avith soap and water — 
not forgetting the floor — as often as is needful. The light 
to be used demands a careful consideration. The lamp I 
saw at Mrs. Davidson's appeared to me very desirable — -the 
orange-tinted, crumpled tissue paper, placed to shield it, 
being favorable to materialization. But the lights used in 
American seances were still better; and if one is really 
going in for serious investigation, a few pounds, spent at 
the beginning, will amply repay themselves in the end. 
The American lamps were very simple — having four sides 
of glass, with an oil light in the middle. One pane of glass 
was red, one blue, one orange, and one plain white. The 
lamp revolved and the spirits chose which color they 
desired to use, according to the atmosphere, or the party 
assembled, or other conditions known only to themselves. 
If the light from the unused panes were too strong, a 
crumpled sheet of tissue i)aper soon remedied the difficulty. 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 261 

'For a public seance room, too, there must assuredly be a 
cabinet. Now, I utterly object to all tests for a medium, 
such as tying, or marking, or sewing up in sacks, etc. 
But, at the same time, 1 consider a proper cabinet for 
materializations to be a sme qua non, not only for the 
satisfaction of the sitters, but the safety of the medium. 

How many and many a person has sat with reliable 
mediums, and believed, at the time, that everything was 
fair and above board (as, indeed, it was), and then, on 
returning home, being unable, after all, to believe that the 
marvels they had seen were true, " gone back upon them- 
selves,^^ as it is called, and pronounced the whole affair to 
have been a fraud. Had the medium been seated in such 
a cabinet, as I am about to describe to you, such a contra- 
diction would have been avoided. It belonged to the 
Society of British Spiritualists, and was used in their 
rooms, in Great Eussell street, by AVilliam Eglinton. It 
consisted, as far as I can give measurements from recollec- 
tion, of a cupboard of plain deal, with two sides, a top 
and a bottom, the front being left open. I should judge 
that this cupboard may have been about six feet long by 
four wide, and eight feet in height. Exactly in the middle 
of it was a partition of galvanized wire netting, one side 
of which was enclosed by a wirework door. Where this 
door opened, were a dozen hasps for padlocks ; and any 
one who chose, was invited to bring his own padlock, and, 
having fastened it on one of these hasps, to retain the key 
in his possession. Behind the door was placed a comfortable 
easy chair, in which the medium sat, who was thus enclosed 
in a wire cabinet, leaving an empty space of the same size 
beside him. A dark, thiek curtain was drawn right across 
the front, hiding both the medium and the empty space. 
The spirits, in order to appear, had, therefore, to pass 
through the wire netting, by which the medium was sur- 



262 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

rounded, and out of the curtain, which fell before the open- 
ing. There never was a shadow of suspicion, therefore, in 
the minds of any of the sitters that the medium could 
possibly personate the spirit forms that appeared, whilst 
he, feeling quite at his ease and secure from molestation, 
was able to produce far better manifestations than he would 
otherAvise have done. And, here, I would observe that 
one cannot make the medium too comfortable, and on his 
comfort a great deal of power depends. Had I the organi- 
zation of such a cabinet, I would, in addition to what I 
have described, have a wire-work partition placed across 
the room, at about six feet distance from the opening, so 
that the spirits might feel sure of not being seized, to the 
detriment and danger of the medium. 

Having arranged my seance room, the next thing would 
be to nominate, not only a secretary to look after the funds, 
but a master of the ceremonies, or ^'conductor of the 
seance," as they call him in America, to look after the cir- 
cle. Such an arbitrator and authority is infinitely useful, 
and I liked the plan they pursue in the States, of the con- 
ductor speaking a few words each evening before the 
sitting commenced, telling the circle what was expected of 
them and why they had assembled there. The presence of 
a " conductor " often prevents any unseemly squabbling, or 
discontent, about seats, or having to change them; he is,, 
also, a check against any tricks being played with the 
medium or by the members of the circle. 

If the funds are forthcoming, it is most desirable to have 
a small harmonium in the seance room, and some one who 
knows how to play it. The solemn tones of the harmonium 
seem more appropriate to a spiritual gathering than any 
other, and blend admirably with the liuman voices. 

As the room will be at your own disposal, also, those 
amongst the circle who can sing, should fix one night in 



THE SPIEIT WORLD. 263 

the week to meet and practice singing appropriate for the 
sittings. This need not consist of Moody and Sankey's 
hymns, nor, indeed, of any hymns at all. There are num- 
berless sweet and plaintive melodies which are qnite suit- 
able for such an occasion. Above all, avoid the old strains 
that have been made so common in every seance room, that 
even the spirits, themselves, must be sick of hearing them. 
AVhy is it that, directly a request is preferred for singing, 
in a seance room, nothing is struck up but " The Sweet-By- 
and-By,^^ or " Footsteps of Angels ? " 

I heard a funny story, bearing on this question, the other 
day, but I will not vouch for its veracity. A circle being 
requested to ^^ tune up,^^ commenced the immortal, never- 
fading "Shall We Gather at the Eiver?'^ As they ceased, 
an influence manifested itself, unknown to any one there. 
On being asked who he was, he answered : " I am the un- 
happy composer of ^ Shall We Gather at the Eiver ? ' Had 
my life been twice as sinful as it was, I should have ex- 
piated everything by the purgatory I have suffered in hear- 
ing that tune sung so often, and so badly, at your various 
meetings. Cannot you possibly find something else to 
sing ? I am sick to death of it.^' And well he may be. 

Surely, since it is considered worth while for choirs to 
be organized, and to meet for practice in the service of the 
churches, we might do something similar for our seance 
rooms. The fearful screeching that usually passes for 
melody in them is enough, not to raise the dead, but to 
scare them back to their spheres. AVhen I organize my 
spiritual society, the choir will have to meet as regularly 
as if the denizens of earth were to listen to their efforts, 
instead of the denizens of Heaven. 

Having thus secured my members, my annual subscrip- 
tions and entrance fees, my seance room and trained choir, 
the next thing would be to decide the days of sittings. 



264 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

IS'aturally, these must depend so much on the occupations 
and opportunities of the sitters^ that no hard and fast 
rules can be laid down concerning them, with this excep- 
tion: that no one should be admitted to membership who 
is unable to attend regularly. If the sittings are to take 
place only once a week, Sunday evening appears to be the 
best day, as people^ who work hard all the week, are likely 
to be pretty well rested by that time, and you must re- 
member that it is impossible to get good manifestations 
from tired and feeble bodies. But, perhaps, you would 
prefer to keep Sundays for listening to the utterances of 
trance-speakers, like Mr. Morse, or for holding sittings 
with experienced mediums, like Mrs. Davidson. Your 
trained choir will be able to lead the singing, on such oc- 
casions, and make them all the more enjoyable, and the 
sittings of the society can be held during the week, 
instead. 

These are the rules and regulations which, in my esti- 
mation, should form the nucleus of a Spiritualist society; 
but, of course, there are numerous advantages to be added 
to it, as members increase and funds come in more freely. 

A library of works on the subject would be of infinite 
value, and, where the society embraces, many members of 
the lower classes, some very pleasant evenings might be 
spent in giving them readings from well-known authors and 
poets, who have given their experiences, on this great sub- 
ject, to the world. Books on Spiritualism are not, as a 
rule, easily obtainable. They are, for the most part, expen- 
sive to purchase, and few booksellers keep them, and, one 
may add, no libraries. Tlie richer members of a society 
might, therefore, well contrive to make a present of a few 
such books to the formation of a library to which tliose, 
who have no other opportunity of seeing them, might have 
access. 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 265 

As the society grows and becomes richer, you will engage 
mediums to come amongst you and give you an example 
of their powers ; you will invite preachers and speakers to 
visit your Sunday gatherings ; you will organize pleasant 
meetings for your members, during which they may be- 
come personally acquainted with each other, and which 
will promote that spirit of harmony which is so essential 
for the success of the cause. 

I cannot say I like spiritualistic dances. I know there 
is no harm in dancing — for aught I know, we may enjoy 
it in the other world, and I hope we may ; but we are not 
there yet ; we have not cast oif our burden of sin and 
sorrow. And I do not like the idea of excessive merri- 
ment, connected with so solemn a matter as interviewing 
the dear ones, whose loss caused us to shed such bitter 
tears. I do not envy the Spiritualist who has ceased to 
regard his belief with a certain amount of awe and 
solemnity. 

I have heard people say to me, after speaking on this 
subject : " I never met such a woman as you are. You 
don^t seem to mind spirits any more than you do mortals.''^ 
And I have answered : " Excuse me, but I do mind them 
a great deal more, and having lost all fear of them does not 
imply that I have lost all awe. I regard them with the 
deepest reverence, and always shall, from whatever sphere 
they come. There can be nothing, in my estimation, but 
awe, in contemplating a future state, which, however fully 
we may be convinced of its reality, we can never realize 
until we enter it.^^ 

If you invite trance-speakers, or materializing mediums, 
or clairvoyants, to attend your gatherings, they will possi- 
bly stay a night or two in your midst, and some one of 
your members will offer to entertain them the while. 
Should this be the case, their visit should be made one of 



266 THE SPIEIT WORLD. 

complete rest, excepting when tliey are sitting for the 
society. There is a great deal to be said on the manner in 
which mediums should be treated; for, in this age, we do 
not seem to understand the subject. The term " sensitive '^ 
is the most applicable to the persons so gifted, for they are 
sensitive in the extreme, and, as a rule, delicate in body. 
To treat them like ordinary people, is to exhaust them un- 
necessarily; to induce them to attend public scenes of 
gayety, is to render them unfit for more serious duties; 
to drag them amongst strangers^ who will ply them with 
questions, out of pure curiosity, is to subject them to divers 
influences, that may greatly detract from the success of 
your seances. 

The ancients did not treat their mediums so. The ora- 
cles of Delphos, the virgins of the Buddhist temples, the 
vestals who handled the divining tables of the Egyptians, 
the medicine men of the tribes of Eed Indians — were all 
carefully guarded from the contamination of strange influ- 
ences, and kept sacredly within the protection of their 
temples, or tribes. The ancients knew that their spiritual 
gifts were of so delicate nature, and their physical organi- 
zation so frail, that, to be kept pure and reliable, they 
must be protected from the outer world. 

But what do we do with our mediums? We engage 
them to sit for our circles; we turn them into objects of 
curiosity for the ignorant between whiles; we try to get 
spiritual phenomena out of them at all times, and we feed 
them, and lodge them, and fatigue them, just as if they 
were one of ourselves. Several most gifted mediums iiave 
been accused (and unfortunately with justice), of giving 
way to the pernicious habit of drinking. Will you be 
surprised when I tell you that this habit has been generally 
induced by the treatment which they have received at the 
liands of those who most admire their mediumistic qualities ? 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 267 

You exhaust their powers too much; you never leave them 
alone; you talk to them, and run after them, day and night,, 
whilst they are under your roof, so that, at last, they are so 
thoro'ughly exhausted, they are thankful to take any stimu- 
lant that shall relieve the feeling of sickness, and empti- 
ness, and utter prostration, caused by your well-meant, 
perhaps, but injudicious hospitality. 

Eemember what the word " medium " signifies — a chan- 
nel, through which the spiritual waters are conveyed to- 
your lips. The spirit, or ego, of the medium is compelled 
to quit his body, whilst the spirits of the departed pass 
into it, using its organs of thought and speech, for your 
edification. Do you suppose this process does not try th© 
physical powers of the medium; that he does not return 
to his exhausted frame exhausted in spirit as well ? 

Watch a physical medium, next time you sit with one, 
and see how wearily he drags his legs after him, as he 
walks out of the seance room, when the sitting is concluded; 
look at his tired eyes, the perspiration he wipes from his 
brow, the faint voice in which he answers your eager ques- 
tions, the indifferent smile with which he receives your 
thanks for a successful sitting. The man is completely 
exhausted, body and spirit; what he requires now is a bed,, 
or a sofa, to lie down on and rest for a few hours, and com- 
plete quiet around him whilst he does so. A cup of really 
good tea — unfortunately, a rarity, in these days of nasty 
cheapness — and some light refreshment, in the shape of 
sandwiches, or dainty bread and butter, is the best thing 
for a medium to take immediately after sitting; then a 
good rest, to be followed by a substantial meal, such as 
will restore his wasted energies. 

But, unless under exceptional circumstances, never offer 
a medium stimitlants. Unless he should be faint, or really 
ill, his spirit guides will never recommend them, and many 



268 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

have told me that they have traced to this supposed hospi- 
tality more than one instance of mediums yielding them- 
selves up to the fatal habit of intoxication. Good tea, 
with a dash of orange pekee in it, is the best stimulant for 
them; and I know one celebrated medium who never takes 
anything else after a seance. Here is one instance, there- 
fore, in which we do not guard our mediums sufficiently. 
The vestal virgins of the Temple, and also the ancient 
priests, you may remember, were not allowed to taste 
strong drink, from their birth, or they were unfitted for 
the service of religion. 

And we ought to guard the digestion of our mediums as 
well. Digestion has a great deal to do with good mani- 
festations — indeed, all the interior economy has. 

I remember how vexed " Joey " used to be when Willy 
Eglinton had permitted himself to get a headache before 
sitting, and we could hear him scolding him, inside the 
cabinet, for having been so careless. 

Of course, whilst we are so lukewarm with regard to 
Spiritualism as to allow our mediums to go on working for 
their daily bread, whilst they exercise their spiritual gifts, 
we shall never enjoy them in perfection. 

A man who has to think and work all day for tlie 
support of his family is not likely to find himself in good con- 
dition for such an exhausting trial as sitting for materializa- 
tion when the evening comes ; and when we consider that 
he sits up, 2)erhaps, till eleven or twelve, and then has to 
rise early in the morning again, it is hardly wonderful that 
lie should, sometimes, fail to procure manifestations, or 
have recourse to stimulants to keej) up his failing strength. 

A good medium should be packed in cotton, wool and 
lavender. How many of them are? AVe know tliat the 
clergy of the English Churcli are, some of them, miserably 
l)ai(l ; but wliat stipends do we allow our mediums? Many 



THE SPIRIT WORLD. 269 

of them work for nothing ; many are obliged, by reason of 
the necessity to live, to accept a most inadequate remunera- 
tion in return for their ineffable services to humanity ; 
and all who do so are compelled to make a secret of it, on 
account of the infamous law still existing on our statute 
books, regarding witches and fortune-tellers. 

When are the Spiritualists going to club together and 
get up a memorial to have that old black-letter law 
abolished ? When the Royal family of England follow the 
pursuit of Spiritualism, and numberless men of repute and 
renown have given their testimony to the truth of it — is it 
not about time that the power to commit mediums to 
prison as " rogues and vagabonds/' should be taken out of 
the hands of magistrates, whom the press is ever reviling 
for their ignorance, injustice and stupidity? 

By the same statutes, an actor, when he dies, should be 
buried where four cross-roads meet, with a stake driven 
through his heart. What would Mr. Irving's, or Mr. 
Toole's friends say if the legal authorities insisted upon 
treating their bodies after death in such a fashion ? Yet, 
it would be quite as reasonable and lawful as treating 
mediums, as if they were all frauds, taking money under 
false pretenses. 

It is impossible that, while they thus live, as it were, 
under the shadow of the law, and in fear lest it should 
swoop down upon them, at any moment, mediums can be 
seen at their best. To my mind, this freedom from all 
anxiety, on such a score, is the reason why spiritual mani- 
festations are so superior in America to what they are in 
England. There, people are not treated as if they were 
children or fools. The law recognizes they should be free 
agents in all matters of conscience, and does not pretend 
to dictate their private opinions to chem. 

And why England should permit Shakers and Salva- 



27<^ THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

tionists and Peculiar People to exist in the land and prac- 
tice their several religions in peace (though, as in the case 
of the Salvation Army, no one else is allowed to enjoy it) 
a,nd, 3^et, take a savage pleasure in molesting Spiritualists, 
would be a mystery, did I not know, in common with many 
others, that it is the Spiritualists' own fault. When are 
we ever seen to protect, or stand up for our mediums, when 
they are falsely accused ? 

In America, if a medium were accused of cheating, he 
would find a thousand of his adherents springing up, ready 
to do battle for him and bear witness to his fidelity. 

In England, what happens in such a case? The news- 
papers devoted to the cause, immediately publish all details 
of it, that they may be sure to reach the eyes and ears of 
those who may not have happened to hear of them. They 
do not send special reporters to enquire into the rights 
and wrongs of the accusation, which has been, invariably, 
hrought by an outsider; but they turn it into a sensational 
article to swell the interest of their paper, and make the 
sceptics say: "Why, even his own organ condemns him!" 
To read the Spiritualist papers, one would imagine they had 
been instituted to exjoose Spiritualism instead of to protect 
it. I am not including "Light," nor Mr. Stead's publica- 
tions, in this censure. I have received strange accounts, 
however, of tlie lack of information to be obtained at the 
offices of some spiritualistic papers. What are these offices 
for? For what reason have they secretaries and clerks in 
<:'harge of them, if it is not that enquirers into the reality of 
Spiritualism may have their questions answered, and in- 
structed where to go and whom to apply to, to aid them in 
tlieir researcli ? 

Yet, ladies and gentlemen have complained to me that 
wlien they liave visited those offices, to ask for a certain 
Ijook, or the address of a certain medium, tliey liave met 



THE SPIKIT WORLD. 271 

with scant courtesy, and scanter information. The clerks 
have not got the book; they do not know if it is popular 
or not; they do not know the medium^s address — not any- 
thing about him, or her; they do not know of any reliable 
mediums in town. N"ow, this is a nice way to further a 
cause, or to induce strangers to adopt it. Had I been at 
the head of that office, the clerk who dared to make the 
foregoing statement would have got the sack the following- 
Saturday. Why do not the secretaries of such offices make 
it part of their duty to find out the resident mediums all 
over England; their capabilities and their addresses; also 
their fees, if any ? Why do they not sit with them, so as 
to be able to give a personal opinion on their merits, and 
if they have not a certain spiritualistic book in their lend- 
ing library, why do they not procure it for their clients ? 
But considering that, in comparison to other literature, 
books on Spiritualism are few and far between, it is a dis- 
grace to the cause that any library should be without any 
one of them, and a still greater disgrace that the person in 
charge of such a place has not made himself acquainted 
with, at least, the tenor and general style of every volume 
written on the subject. 

Had I the leisure, I would set up such a Spiritualistic 
Library and Office of Enquiry in London as should knock 
the whole lot into " smithereens." 

What is the use of going to the expense of keeping up 
such places, that should, in the present condition of gen- 
erally awakened curiosity concerning Spiritualism, be draw- 
ing their thousands into the cause, but only disgust people 
with their expressed indifference to it, instead ? 

When I think of the numbers of strangers who have 
written, or come to me for information, since " There is no 
Death'' was published, I know that, if the newspapers 
were what they ought to be, and the offices of those papers 



272 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 

had the proper information to give the public, instead of 
rudeness and inattention; if the Spiritualists, themselves, 
showed more energy and interest in their religion, rallied 
round their mediums better, and took a little more trouble 
generally, the number of adherents to it would have been 
doubled by now. 

Far more interest is shown in Spiritualism in the 
country than in London. In several provincial towns the 
Spiritualists have large rooms or meeting-houses, where 
they assemble regularly, to study the truths in which they 
believe — but, in town, people have come to me over and 
over again, with the complaint that they are anxious to 
enquire more fully into the doctrine, but they cannot find 
out where to go, nor whom to go to. 

When is this state of things to be remedied ? When are 
we to have a proper organ for the diffusion of our creed ? 
When a proper temple to pursue it in ? When shall we 
have a recognized meeting-place, a public library,^ an office 
where all enquiries on the subject shall be answered 
courteously and all possible information given? Until 
that era dawns — until Spiritualists band together ; until 
they learn how to treat their mediums properly, and cease 
to believe every falsehood they may hear against them — I 
fear we shall go on as we do now — shall remain an un- 
recognized, persecuted, ridiculed, and, presumably, lawless 
people. 



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12MO, ClOTH, $1.00 

A BANKRUPT HEART, a novel. By Florence Marryat. 

12MO, Cloth, $1.25 

SENT POSTPAID ON RECEIPT OF PRICE 

CHAS. B. REED, Publisher 

164, 166 & 168 FULTON STREET, N. Y. 



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